
GlassL5!2 
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PREHISTORIC TO PRESENT PERIODS 



BY 



CLARK S. MATTESON 



J. E. MATTESON, Author's Assistant 



THE STORY OF THE STATE INTERSPERSED WITH REALISTIC AND 
ROMANTIC EVENTS 



MILWAUKEE 

WISCONSIN HISTORICAL PUBLISHING COMPANY 
1893 






Copyrighted 1893 



Wisconsin Historical Publishing Co. 



3(^ o4o 
'o3 



MILWAUKEH 

Evening Wisconsin Comi'ann 

189} 



The great necessity tor a complete history of the state is 
so apparent, that no apology is essential for the publication of 
such a work as the author anticipates this will prove to be. 



Wisconsin is entitled not alone to a prominent place in the 
history of the United States, but to a prominent place in the 
history of the world, both on account of her pre-territorial his- 
tory, and on account of her great men who have reflected honor 
and credit upon the greatest government the world was ever 
blessed with. 

Wisconsin has taken her place in the long line of states as 
proudly and prominently as any in the union, and will continue 
to hold it with honor to herself, and credit to the general 

government. 

CLARK S. MATTESON. 
Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, 

September i, 1892. 




Submarine Vulcanoes. 



Historical (Jeolog-^ of \^i§gon§in. 



PRE-LAURENTIAN HISTORY. 

Chapter I. 

THE BEGliNNING. 

Theoretical Condition of the Earth Matter. — It is conjectured 
that the earth, the solar system, and possibly the known material 
universe, were originally in an elementary gaseous condition.* Prof. 
Lockyer, and other scientists, have assigned reasons for believing the 
so-called elements are not atomic, in the ultimate sense, but are com- 
pounds of matter still more elementary. "f Scientific speculation thus 
leads us back into unavoidable chaos. 

Origin of Planets. — The nebular hypothesis maintains that when 
the increase in rate of rotation reached a certain stage, the force reced- 
ing from the center to the equatorial position, would become so much 
greater than the force of gravitation, that it would then separate from 
the rotating mass. The separated portion is condensed like the original 
body, and becomes a rotating planet. The original mass, meanwhile, 
continues to contract, and, at intervals, discharge other masses from its 
exterior, which in time become condensed into planets. Some of these 
planets, for the same reason, throw off masses which become their satel- 
lites. "The residual portion of the original whole is supposed to be 
found in our sun, still hot and condensing." The meteorites and the 
comets of the solar system are considered miniature planets, or portions 
separated from the original mass and not 3'et gathered so as to solidify. 

Whether the process was a condensation from a gaseous condition, 
or a growth of meteoric matter, the newly-formed earth must have been 
extremely hot. It is generally believed to have been at first a glowing 
sun with an intensely-heated core, surrounded by incandescent atmos- 
phere. As the cooling and condensation process continued, the core 
increased and the atmosphere diminished, until there developed from 
the molten mass an earth and an atmosphere analogous to the planet 
we inhabit. 

Testimony of Heavenly Bodies. — The light furnished by the sun, 
moon and stars is sufficient for us to read correctly the origin, matter, 

*T. C. Chamberlain's Wis. Geol., 47. 

fCompte's Reiidus., Dec. i, 1873. American Journal Science, Feb. '82, 123. 



2 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

and motion of our planet. The heavenly bodies differ in color and 
character of radiance. The whitest being the hottest, while the less 
brilliant are the coolest. Our sun may be considered as an example of 
a great mass of matter concentrated and surrounded by a vast glowing 
atmosphere. The heavens present bodies in all stages of world-making 
development, from solid spheres to vast irregular masses of gas. The 
earth and Mars are cool, solid globes, surrounded by cold and gaseous 
atmospheres, while the moon is in a more-extensive stage of condensa- 
tion, and, as far as visible, is a solid mass with an absorbed atmosphere. 
From meteoric dust which is constantly falling, together with the 
occasional large masses which fall bodily to the earth, we are informed 
of the general character of the heavenly bodies. Among all of these 
elements which have been examined, none has been found which does 
not exist in the earth. 

Laws of Rotation. — Laplace, the celebrated mathematician who 
originated the nebular hypothesis, accounted for the rotation of the 
planets in this wise: If a perfect sphere, absolutely uniform in structure 
and density throughout, were stationary, the radiation of heat would 
cause the body to contract; then, unless shrinkage were uniform, which 
is highly improbable, the mass would, with the slightest inequality, 
cause a rotation in some direction. Rotation once started, further con- 
traction would, according to well-established physical principles, cause 
the rotating to become more and more rapid, as the cooling and shrinking 
progressed. Again, if the sphere were a perfect equilibrium, the attract- 
ive forces would collect masses, which would disturb its equilibrium, 
and rotation thus become inaugurated. In other words, rotation is the 
necessary result of concentration of matter under the varied conditions 
that characterize the first stages of our universe. 

Liquid Stage. — -We are not surrounded by obscure mists of uncer- 
tainty, when we picture the earth as a molten mass, surrounded by an 
intensely-heated atmosphere. These great problems, * which for centuries 
were unsolved, are now axioms. 

Formerly, it was generally believed that the cooling process formed 
a crust over the entire globe, and that the crust thickened, as solidifica- 
tion progressed, leaving a molten interior, which was the great volcanic 
reservoir. This plausible and generally-accepted theory has been 
weakened by scientists, who maintain that the earth, owing to the 
intense pressure to which the interior was subjected, must have been 
reduced to a solid condition, notwithstanding its high pressure. 

Geologists, by critical examinations of volcanic matter, have con- 
cluded that the interior of the earth is not in a liquid condition, but in a 
solid state. Critical examinations have revealed the fact that different 
volcanoes eject different substances at different times, and that, while 

*Geol. Wis., Vol I., 152. 



PRE-LAURENTIAN HISTORY. 3 

one volcano may be ejecting water, mud, and other ingredients, an 
adjacent volcano may be ejecting molten lava. These, with other 
equally-sound reasons, are conclusive evidences that volcanoes do not 
have their origin in a common liquid reservoir.* 

These great volcanic earth events, of which there are several hun- 
dred in an active state and thousands of extinct ones, many of which 
are in the bottom of the ocean, f give us but unsatisfactory evidence of 
their origin. 

Causes of Igneous Eruptions. — Although scientists have delved 
deeply into the causes of igneous eruptions, yet none of the theories 
advanced have been generally accepted. The following are the principal 
theories advanced: 

1. That the source of the eruptions is superficial. 

2. That the material erupted is not primordial liquid, either from 
a liquid interior, or molten lakes, but is formed from the melting of the 
earth's crust. 

3. That such melted portions are local, and that neighboring vents 
connect with independent reservoirs. 

4. That the melted rock was sometimes derived from primitive 
crust, but generally from melted sediments. 

5. That the fusion is due to a certain combination of causes, the 
most essential of which is, or consists of, great pressure resulting in 
high temperature, followed by a reduction of pressure, and, consequently, 
a lowering of the fusion point, resulting in liquefaction before the tem- 
perature has been correspondingly reduced. 

6. That the ejective force is the result of the combined action of 
pressure, weight of superincumbent rock, expansive force of vapors, and 
the effect of heat upon the specific gravity of the liquefied rock.| 

7. That the order of eruption is due to the order of liquefaction, 
modified by specific gravity and the eruptive force. § 

Density of the Sphere. — By different processes, the earth has 
been weighed and found to be on an average five and a half times as. 
heavy as water, while the surface rocks have an average weight of only 
two and a half times, or three times that of water. Therefore the 
exterior of the earth is only about one- half as heavy as the average to 
the whole. The increase of specific gravity in the interior is supposed 
to be partially due to the density produced by the enormous pressure 
occasioned by the weight of the overlying rocks, and partially to its 
supposed condensation from its nebulous and molten state. It is 
p sumed that the heavier materials collected at the center, while the 
.ighter were arranged in order of specific gravity around them. 

*Geol. Wis,, Vol. I., 53. 

+Harper's Mag., June, 1888. 

^Geol. Wis., Vol. I., 104. 

J^Geol. of the High Plateaus of Utah. 



4 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

Formation of the Ocean. — When the earth was in a molten con- 
dition, or heated to a temperature approaching it, all the water now 
constituting the ocean, together with the water held in the pores and 
fissures of the earth, must have existed in a vaporous state. The atmos- 
pheric ingredients, to an extent, have combined with the earth material. 
This atmosphere embraces large quantities of oxygen, some nitrogen, 
and enormous quantities of carbonic acid, that is now contained in lime 
and magnesia, in the limestone strata, together with that represented 
by the coals, oils and disseminated carbonaceous material of the sedi- 
mentary rocks. According to Dr. Hunt, the carbonic acid of the lime- 
stones would give a volume of gas, the pressure of which would equal 
two hundred atmospheres.* When the earth commenced to cool it 
commenced to solidify, and finally reached a temperature which per- 
mitted vaporous atmospheric elements to condense. It was not neces- 
sary for the temperature to sink 212° Fahrenheit before the water would 
begin to be deposited, as the enormous atmospheric pressure would 
permit its condensation at a higher temperature. It is reasonable to 
suppose that the shrinkage of the earth at this period was sufficient to 
cause inequalities on its surface. If this were true, the waters first 
settling upon the earth gathered in depressions, thereb}^ forming local 
lakes. As condensation of the vapors increased, the lakes grew into 
oceans, and soon became a shoreless sea. 

As the cooling process continued, the earth shrunk, which caused 
great inequalities in its surface, while otlier portions of the earth 
depressed, thereby drawing the waters into the basins. f 

The early ocean was both hot and acidulous, as the condensed 
vapors absorbed acid ingredients from the atmosphere, thus arming itself 
to combat the solid materials of the earth's crust. 

Then commenced the long battle between the sea, armed with its 
acidulous weapons, and the land, with its crusted armor. Copious rains 
descended over the whole surface of the earth, thence flowing into the 
sea, carrying down silt and soluble material. Thus the shores were 
being continually eaten away by the sea, and the land cut down by the 
rains, which sediments filled up the ocean beds. 

Earliest Known Land. — The earliest known land, in this part of the 
globe, is in the form of the letter "v", and embraces within its limits 
Hudson's Bay, and extends northeasterly to the coast of Labrador, and 
south to the great lakes, and northwesterly to the Arctic ocean. J 

South of Lake Superior arose an island which formed the nucleus 
of the state of Wisconsin and the northern part of Michigan. 

*The Am. Jour. Sci., Feb., 1882, 133. 

f Mallet has estimated the earth's diametrical contractions to have been miles, "so 
that the primitive surface may be conceived as passing miles over our heads." Cham- 
berlain's Wis. Geol., 61. 

:{;Page 2 of Chamberlain says that the present date makes this a Laurentian island, 
which was probably connected with the mainland. 



PRE-LAURENTIAN HISTORY. 




Earliest Known Land. 



6 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

The state of Illinois and a large area south of Illinois was a bound- 
less sea for centuries after Wisconsin was land. The sedimentary 
washings of the whole country lying north of Illinois helped fill up that 
great basin and form its substructure. It is conjectured that all of the 
land south of the early "v "-shaped land, originated from the sediments 
of these early or more primitive lands. 



Chapter II. 
LAURENTIAN AGE. 



When nature, that grand architect of innumerable worlds, builded 
Wisconsin upon a granite foundation, she recorded the history of thou- 
sands of centuries in her series of rock structure. 

Geologists have divided the respective ages, from the period called 
Pre-Laurentian to the present time, in the following order: 

Laurentian — Age of Zoophites, followed by an interval. 

Huronian — Age of early Interbrates and Plants, followed by an 
interval. 

Cambrian— Age of Trilobites, followed by an interval. 

Lower Silurian — Age of Mollusks. 

Upper Silurian — Age of Mollusks. 

Devonian — Age of Fishes. 

Carboniferous— Age of Coal and Plants. 

Reptilian Age. 

Tertiary — Age of Mammals. 

Quaternary — Age of Ice. 

Human Age. 

Definition. Formation. — The name Laurentian is derived from the 
Laurentide Hills of Canada. The rocks of this formation are of the 
metamorphic class, principally gneisses, and generally termed granitic. 
The strata are folded and contorted, and occupy a large area in Wisconsin 
and northern Michigan. 

Origin. — The Laurentian formation originated from sediments, but 
whether from the original crust will ever remain a debatable question. 
The sedimentary materials which composed this formation were prin- 
cipally clays and sand, intermixed with silicia, alumnia, lime, magnesia 
and potash.* The waves, after successfully battling with the earth, 
assorted and piled away the sediments for future rock strata. The 
wind, waves and tide piled up and arranged these sediments into layers, 

""Hunt's Chemical and Geological Essays, pp. 22-95. 



LAURENTIAN AGE. 



Ages. 

Human Age . . . 
Quater nary. ( >■»; 
Age of ice ... | ^^ 



Tertiary. Age 
of Mammals. 



Reptilian Age. • 



Carboniferous. 
Age of coal 
plarits. 



Devonian. Age 

of Fishes . . 



Upper Silu- 
rian. Age of 
Alolhisks ... 



Lower Silu- f 

r ian . Age J 

of Mollusks. I 

Interval ^ 

Cambrian. Age J 
of Trilobites ^ 

Interval 




Huronian. Age 
of earlier in- 
verteb rates 
and plants f 



Interval. 



Cretaceous 



Jurassic . 



Laurentian. .. 
Age of Zoo- 
phytes t ■ ■■ ■ 




Trenton . . . 

Interval. 

Potsdam.. 

Interval. 

Keweenaw- 
an 

Interval. 
. Huronian.. 

Interval. 






IDE.4.L Geological Column. 



8 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

whose attitude changed according to the action of the elements, which 
•caused the oblique and discordant stratification. 

Thickness. — The thickness of these sedimentary formations was 
enormous. According to the original Canadian measurements, it was 
estimated at 30,000 feet, but, as yet, the base has not been exposed, 
audits depth is unknown.* It is hard to account for so enormous an 
amount of material required for such a rock series. It is estimated that 
if the Appalachian mountain range were reduced to sediments, and 
strewn over an equal area of the Atlantic bed, it would make but a 
diminutive formation. 

According to standard estimates, if the entire continent of North 
America were worn down to the sea level, it would not give more than 
twice the material of the paleozoic sediments of the Appalachian region. f 

Period of Upheaval. — After the long period of sedimentation, an 
extraordinary transformation took place. Originally, the sands and 
clays were in horizontal beds, but now we find them folded and contorted 
in the most intricate manner. It has been observed that the force did 
not come directly from underneath the strata, as the folds indicate that 
the sides have been forcibly pressed against each other and pushed over 
to one side, so as to leave an angle. 

It is conclusive that the strata received an immense but slow side 
force, the resisting of which caused compacting and wrinkling in the 
manner described. 

Was There Life? — As yet the existence of either vegetable or 
animal life during this period has not been established. No fossil 
remains have been found in Wisconsin, and no organic rock, such as 
limestone and graphite, which indicate the presence of life. It has been 
suggested by geologists, however, that the large ingredients of potash 
found in the Laurentian rocks are an indication of an important era of 
vegetable life which preceded all animal life. 

Interval Between Laurentian and Huronian Periods. — Lauren- 
tian sedimentation only drew to a close by the elevating forces which 
heaved the beds up from the bottom of the ocean. No sooner had these 
beds been raised from the depths of the sea, than the atmospheric ele- 
ments and the adjacent sea commenced their work of cutting down and 
returning the sedimentary elements to the sea, to help form new beds 
which, in time, became the Huronian formation. This long period of 
wash and wear slowly cut down the mountainous land, and was the inter- 
val between the Laurentian and Huronian ages. 

*This estimate includes beds now known as the Huronian series. 
fGeol. of Wis., Vol. I., 70. 



Chapter III. 

HURONIAN AGE. 

Scientists have, by the light of knowledge, dispelled the darkness 
which separated the mysterious past from the present, and by untiring 
researches have transformed chaos into order. 

Definition. Descriptive. — The name Huronian is derived from 
Lake Huron, upon the north side of which the formation is well 
developed. This formation is pronouncedly known in Wisconsin and 
adjacent Michigan as the great iron-bearing formation. It is believed to 
embrace all of the great iron deposit of Missouri, New York and Canada. 

Formation. — The Huronian formation consists of metamorphosed 
sediments, including quartzites, limestones, clayslates, micaceous, horn- 
blendic, carbonaceous and magnetic schists, dioretes, and porphyries of 
questionable origin. 

The strata are arched, folded and contorted, like the Laurentian, and 
the diameter is estimated at 13,000 feet. They constitute the Penoka, 
Menominee and Black river iron ranges, the quartzites of central Wis- 
consin, together with the quartzite of Barron and Chippewa counties. 

Ancient Geography. — The sea advanced upon the Laurentian 
lands and separated therefrom a large island within the northern bound- 
aries of the present state of Wisconsin, and two or three smaller ones in 
adjacent Michigan. Geologists have called the larger of these islands 
Isle Wisconsin, and the smaller ones Michigan islands. The nucleus 
of both Wisconsin and northern Michigan was these islands, the growth 
of which was occasioned by sedimentary accumulations. The waters 
flowed southward, containing large quantities of sediments, which were 
impeded by these islands, so that, after unknown centuries had passed, 
these sediments became the land that is now the fertile and picturesque 
northwest. 

Upheaval. — After the period of Huronian sedimentation, there was 
an era of upheaval and metamorphism, similar to the upheaval that 
occurred at the close of the Laurentian period, but considerably less 
extreme in its effects. None of the original deposits now remain in 
their primitive condition. The great sand deposits were transformed 
into quartzite, while the iron ores, associated with schists, are now in the 
form of magnetite or its derivations. The finer silts, clays and mixed 
sediments were changed to slates and schists. The whole series was 
in fact, to some extent, chemically transformed and crystallized. 

Iron Ore Origin. — The iron ore of this period occurs in thin layers, 
or frequently, in lenticular masses, a iew inches in thickness, inserted 
irregularly among laminations of schists and in scattered particles dis- 



lo HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

seminated through the rocks. It is largely magnetic ore in the present 
form, although the specular variety is present. 

The most plausible theory of the origin of the massive iron ore beds 
in general is, that the meteoric water, charged with organic matter, 
filtering through the soil and surface rocks, changed its iron ingredients 
from the insoluble to the soluble, until it was finally borne into some 
adjacent body of water. Here the drainage reoxidized by contact with 
the atmosphere and thus accumulated into beds.* 

Bog Ore is now accumulated in this manner, and the ores of the 
Clinton and the coal periods are attributed to similar action. The 
ingredients of low lands or marsh vegetation, it is thought, would produce 
the same conditions. 

Life. — No direct evidence of vegetable or animal life as yet has 
been discovered, although some obscure organic remains in the region 
of Michiganf have been discovered, which, together with the existence 
of large deposits of limestone, carbonaceous material, and iron ore, 
create the strongest presumption that there was life. 

Interval. — The interval between the Huronian sedimentation and 
the Keweenawan eruption appears to be indicated by the beds of the 
latter which repose unconformably upon the former. | It is believed 
that sedimentary deposits must have been in progress during the slow 
upheaval. 

*Geol. Mich., Vol. II , 5. 

fGeol. Wis., Vol. I., 89. 

:];Prof. Selwin, director of the Canadian Gaol, survey, does not recognize any inter- 
val between the Huronian and the Keweenawan series. 

It is suggested by Prof. Chamberlain that what appears to be a moderate interval in 
the Wisconsin series, is bridged by the Continental series in the eastern region. 




Chapter IV. 

KEWEENAWAN PERIOD. 

Name. Formation. — The name of this period was derived from 
Keweenaw Point. The formation is also called the copper-bearing or 
cupriferous series, and consists of unstratified, igneous, and sedimentary 
beds, the former principally diabases while the latter are conglomerates, 
sandstones and shales, derived from igneous rocks. The beds are 
tilted, but are neither contorted nor metamorphosed. 

The Great Period of Eruption. — The magnitude of the eruptions 
during this period in the Lake Superior region exceeded that of all other 
periods. The flow of melted rock, spread out in successive horizontal 
sheets, covered an area of 300 miles in length and 100 miles in width. 
The fiery flows of melted rocks followed in quick succession at first, 
and afterward at longer intervals, depositing layer after layer, until 
the thickness was enormous. 

Vivid imagination, in order to satisfy sensational appetites, has 
pictured this as the period of the greatest of internal convulsions, and 
the most violent of upheavals, but the evidence will hardly bear such 
exaggerated coloring. The great movements of this period were of a 
quiet but gigantic character. The igneous eruptions were of a quiet 
nature and came welling up through the great fissures in the earth's 
crust, then flowed in broad fiery sheets over a large expanse of territory. 
These fiery flows, upon reaching the waters of the Lake Superior basin, 
caused magnificent vaporous displays of great magnitude. The opening 
of the fissures through which the molten sheets flowed was undoubtedly 
attended by earthquake tremors, which were only locally violent. 

Thickness. — The greatest thickness of these deposits is estimated 
at 45,000 feet, of which 15,000 feet is said to be sedimentary, while the 
balance is igneous. 

Origin of Copper. — Scientific investigation has established the fact 
that the copper was not deposited in a molten state in the positions in 
which we now find it. Its association with calcite and other minerals, its 
scattered condition, the leaf-like form it assumes, and its existence in 
fissure veins, which were formed at a time later than the igneous period, 
are convincing evidences of its deposit being non-molten. 

All doubts have been dispelled by the occurrence of native unal- 
loyed copper and silver in the same lumps. The generally-accepted 
theory is that copper and silver were originally constituents of the rocks, 
and that they were chemically extracted by percolating waters which 
concentrated the unknown ingredients in porous belts or fissures of the 
formation, thus giving rise to the rich deposits which are now so famous. 



12 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

The concentration of copper is the slow result of chemical action, 
inaugurated when the rocks were first formed, and so continued through- 
out the countless centuries. 

Deposits. — The copper of this formation is found in the igneous 
and sedimentary rocks. In the sedimentary rock the metal is scattered 
through conglomerates, sandstone, and shales, in nuggets, flakes, leaves, 
and fine particles. In some instances little seams in the sandstone or 
shale have been filled with the metal, forming metallic vinelets. 

Prof. Chamberlain, ex-chief geologist of Wisconsin, describes a 
rare specimen in his possession, which records three distinct periods in 
its history: (i) The rippling action of the waves; (2) the hardening and 
cracking process; and, (3) the filling of the minute crevices with 
metallic copper.* 

Conglomerate Deposits. — The greatest copper mine in the world 
is the Calumet and Hecia mine, of northern Michigan. This mine, is a 
sedimentary deposit of extraordinary richness, the copper being so. 
abundant as to fantastically enwrap the whole mass, which lies between 
massive sheets of trap-rock. 

Amygdaloidal Deposit. — In this deposit, the great mass of copper 
which has excited the wonder of the world is found in irregular cracks 
and crannies of the rock, in the form of sheets, leaves, and irregular 
masses of native copper. 

In the deposit is, also, found vapor vesicles filled with native copper 
and occasionally a portion of lava rock completely shotted with the same 
metal. 

Vein Deposit. — The igneous rocks having been deeply fractured by 
internal forces, the crevices were subsequently filled by minerals which 
formed in layers upon their walls. Among the minerals so deposited, 
native copper is found in quantities sufficiently large to be mined. 

Exceptional Deposits. — Copper and silver lie in the detrital beds 
above the igneous sheets in this deposit. The silver-bearing horizon of 
the Ontonagonf region, which extends into Wisconsin, is a special illus- 
tration of such deposits. This metallic deposit lies in the dark shale 
immediately above the great conglomerate, and is only separated by a 
few hundred feet of igneous sheets. The copper is in the sulphate form. 

Interval. J — The interval between the Keweenawan period and the 
Cambrian age is distinctly represented by the formation on the Atlantic 
border of New England and the provinces, and known as the Arcadian 
formation. It is suggested by Prof. Chamberlain that the Cambrian 
formations of Great Britain and Bohemia cover the entire period. 

*Wis. Geol., Vol. I., 108. 
firon River Region, 
iwis. Geol., Vol. I., 16. 



Chapter V. 

CAMBRIAN AGE. 

Potsdam Period. — The Potsdam period of Wisconsin embraces 
the following epochs: St. Peter's epoch (in part), Lower Magnesian 
epoch, Potsdam epoch. 

POTSDAM EPOCH. 

Definition. Formation. — Cambrian takes its name from the Cam 
brian Series in North Wales. The name Potsdam is derived from 
Potsdam, N. Y. The formation is mostly light-colored sandstone in 
central and southern Wisconsin, and red sandstone in the Lake Superior 
region, but includes some beds of limestone and shale. The greatest 
known thickness of this formation is estimated at one thousand feet. 

Geography. — At the commencement of the Potsdam formation, the 
whole or the greater part of Wisconsin was above the sea and attached 
to the Archean continent, and lay northward, forming one of its southern 
promontories. The sea lay to the south, and, during the period, ij 
slowly advanced upon the land through the basin of the lower peninsula 
of Michigan, and the great basin between Iowa and Minnesota, thus 
partially surrounding the Archean heights of Wisconsin. This stage 
was reached about the middle of the period.* 

It is the opinion of same of our scientists, that at the close of the 
period, the peninsula was severed by the sea, thus reproducing the 
Island of Wisconsin. 

Formation of Islands. — The irregular wear of the advancing sea 
created irregularities in the coast line, then formed islands, and, at last, 
reefs. The quartzite and quartz porphyries of central Wisconsin 
resisted the action of the waves to the close of the period, and stood as 
islands in the Potsdam sea. Among these islands are the quartzite 
domes of Baraboo and Portland regions, and Pine Bluff, in Green Lake 
county. The ancient sea beat against these islands with such violence 
that great cliffs were undermined and ground to bowlders by the action 
of the waves, thus forming the coarse conglomerates that now encircle 
these islands. 

Origin of Life. — The Potsdam period introduces to us the first life 
history of the interior basin, and almost the first life history of the globe. 

Trilobites.— The most numerous as well as interesting life forms 
of this period were the Trilobites. A greater number of these fossils 
have been found in Wisconsin than in any other locality. 

*Wis. Geol., Vol. I., 120. 




o 



CAMBRIAN AGE. 15 

Fossil Tracks. — Fossil tracks have been found impressed in the 
Potsdam sandstone, near New Lisbon. The width of some of the tracks 
is four and one-half inches, and of sufficient depth to indicate that the 
weight of the animal must have been considerable.* 

Distribution of Potsdam Beds. — This formation skirts the south 
shore of Lake Superior to the straits, then disappears, but is found 
again below Lake Ontario, where it joins the Adirondacks with the 
Archean area of Canada. It occurs also in the Green Mountains of Ver- 
mont, and along the Appalachian range, from southern New York to 
Albany. 

The Potsdam formation also appears in the Black Hills, where its 
fossils are similar to those discovered in Wisconsin. 

LOWER MAGNESIAN EPOCH. 

Name. Descriptive. — Prof.Owen named thisformation "Magnesia," 
on account of its dolomitic composition. The word "Lower" dis- 
tinguished it from the Galena and Niagara formations. The formation 
is from 65 to 250 feet thick, underlaid by Potsdam sandstone and over- 
laid by St. Peter's sandstone. 

Metallic Contents. — During this epoch there were deposited in 
certain localities, metallic compounds, including copper, lead, and iron 
in small quantities. 

Life. — -Evidence of life in this epoch is limited to some sea-weeds, 
occasional Mollusks, fragments of Trilobites and a few fissure forms of 
fossils. In the northeastern part of the state the cast of an Ophileta 
and two obscure Raphistomce fossils have been discovered. In the over- 
arching layers and in the lead regions Euomphalus Strongi are found. 

American Distribution. — The surface area of this formation is 
found skirting the Potsdam strata. Its eastern formation extends through 
the upper peninsula of Michigan, as far as St. Marie Straits, in the 
Adirondacks, the St. Lawrence region and along the Appalachians. It 
disappears westward in Minnesota and occurs in southeastern Missouri. 

Foreign Distribution. — This series is well developed in North 
Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Scandinavia and Bohemia. 

St. Peter's Epoch (in part). — This portion of the St. Peter's epoch 
will be treated in general, in the Lower Silurian, Cambro-Silurian or 
Ordovican age. 

*Throughthe kindness of the Rev. A. A. Young, of New Lisbon, a number of these 
specimens are now in the museum of Beloit College, and in the University of Wisconsin. 



Chapter VI. 

LOWER SILURIAN, CAMBRO-SILURIAN OR ORDOVICAN AGE. 

EPOCH OF ST. PETER'S SANDSTONE. 

Derivation. Description. — The name of this formation is derived 
from the St. Peter's river (now called Minnesota river), at the mouth of 
which the formation is pronounced. The rock is sandstone of a friable 
nature, underlaid by the Lower Magnesian limestone, and overlaid by- 
Trenton limestone. The average thickness is between 80 and 100 feet, 
while the greatest known depth is 212 feet. 

Stratification. — The stratification is oblique, discordant and bil- 
lowy, which is due to the shifting action of the waves during its deposit. 
At some points the stratification shows the ebb and fiow of the sea, and 
in one locality ripple marks are found. The colors of the strata are 
principally white, yellow and gray, although brown, pink and green are 
not uncommon. The coloring is undoubtedly due to filtering solutions 
of iron and manganese compounds. 

Life of the Period. — Few fossil remains have been found, owing 
to the porous condition of the rock, which was unfavorable to the 
preservation. In southern Wisconsin, tubes of Arenico/ites are found 
in the upper horizon, and in one instance in beds at the base of the 
formation. Prof. N. H. Winchell found a Linguloid shell in the upper 
layers of the Minnesota formation. 

General Distribution. — The St. Peter's sandstone occupies a 
narrow area in Wisconsin. It stretches in an irregular course from the 
Lower Menominee river to the mouth of the Wisconsin. The formation 
dips gently to the east side of the state. 

This formation occurs in northeastern Minnesota, but is unknown 
beyond. In Illinois it is found at Oregon, on the Rock river, and at 
La Salle, on the Illinois. It has not been recognized beyond the Missis- 
sippi region, but the Chazy limestone deposit of New York is regarded 
as its equivalent.* 

TRENTON EPOCH. 

Name. Epoch. — The name of the formation is derived from Trenton 
Falls, N. Y. , where the display is pronounced. The deposit is lime- 
stone with magnesian tendencies. Its greatest thickness is 115 feet. 
The Trenton strata derived their material from three sources, viz. : (i) the 
stony parts of marine life; (2) the fine earthy sediments; and, (3) chemi- 
cal contributions from the sea. 

*Geol. Wis., Vol. I., 150 



LOWER SILURIAN AGE. 17 

Division of Strata. Lower Buff Limestone. — By slow progress 
there was first formed upon the St. Peter's sandstone a stratum of coarse 
thick-bedded magnesia Hmestone, impure on account of its earthy 
substances and largely to the disintegration of life remains.* The color 
of the stratum is gray, and its thickness is estimated at 25 feet. 

Lower Blue Limestone. — ^The upper layers in the stratum are 
slightly worn and smoothed by the waves. The conditions for the 
burikl and preservation of organic remains were so perfect that they are 
now disentombed in a wonderful state of preservation. The preserving 
quality of the strata in the lead region is emphatic. 

This stratum is about the same thickness as the preceding one. 

Upper Buff Limestone. — Then followed another stratum occasioned 
by the same conditions that characterized the Lower Blue Limestone 
formation. The depth of this stratum is estimated at 15 feet. 

Metallic Deposits. — During the growth of these sediments, 
important metallic deposits were being formed. In the southwestern 
portion of Wisconsin, rich and extensive copper and zinc mines are 
found. Copper ores also occupy this horizon in the same locality. 

Life. — Evidence of both animal and vegetable life during this 
period in a variety of forms is numerous and extant. The same animals 
that graced the Potsdam period were prominent in the Trenton seas. 

Distribution. — The Trenton formation stretches from above the 
mouth of the Menominee river, southward through the Green Bay and 
Rock river valley, to the limits of the state. It is frequently exposed 
in the river valleys of the southwestern portion of Wisconsin. Eastward 
from Green Bay, the distribution curves through the upper peninsula 
of Michigan, where it crosses the straits and appears north of Lake 
Huron, and at the foot of Lake Ontario. It crosses into New York, 
swinging around the Adirondacks, thence down the St. Lawrence river. 
Westward from Wisconsin, an irregular belt is found in northeastern 
Iowa, which stretches north to the vicinity of St. Paul. It also appears 
in the Hudson Bay region. 

GALENA EPOCH. 

Definition. Formation. — The name of this formation was derived 
from galena contained in lead ore, and from the immense quantities 
found or exposed at Galena, Illinois. 

The Galena limestone formation consists of coarse-grained, thick- 
bedded dolomite, underlaid by Trenton limestone, and overlaid by Hud- 
son shales. The thickness of this formation is about 250 feet, and con- 
tains flint in certain horizons. 

*Wis. Geol., Vol. I., 162-163. 



i8 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

Life. — Few fossils are found in this formation, as from the nature 
of the deposit, few only were able to withstand the rough and exposed 
conditions occasioned by the swell of the ocean bed. The most noted 
and abundant fossil of the epoch is the ''Sunflower" or "Lead Coral," 
the nature and organization of which is unknown. 

Distribution. — The Galena limestone, in its typical sense, is limited 
to a radius of little more than a hundred miles from the southwest corner 
of Wisconsin. The distribution from that point grades into a shaly 
deposit. The distribution is traceable into the peninsula of Michigan, 
and onward into Canada. 

HUDSON RIVER EPOCH. 

Name. Formation. — The name is derived from the picturesque 
Hudson river, and consists of shales of diverse hues, principally blue 
and gray. 

The deposit, with the intervening limestone, reaches a thickness of 
200 feet. 

Character of Deposit. — After the slow growth of the Galena 
limestone, the conditions of the ocean were so changed that the waters 
were turbulent and muddy, which undoubtedly drove away or destroyed 
the marine animals which live in clear waters. The turbulent and 
changing waters of the sea accumulated new rock material which pro- 
duced the shale sedimentation. At one point and at another, calcareous 
accumulations, and, as the result of these fluctuating conditions, a large 
deposit of unstratified shales and limestone were deposited. 

Ripple Marks. — The condition of the deposit is indicated by ripple 
marks of unusual size, and mud-cracked surfaces representing octagonal 
brick have been observed. The former represent the shallow sea, 
while the latter the exposure of the submergence. 

Changing Conditions. — The changes which brought about this era 
of sedimentation and coast movements were inaugurated in the pre- 
ceding epoch. The central area of the state was, during that period, 
gently raised upward, bending the strata, thus causing eastward and 
westward depressions, which shallowed the sea on the slopes. 

Life. — Those forms of life, not adapted to the shallow, silted, and 
changed conditions of the sea, like Polyp Corals, Lamellibranchs, Gas- 
teropods, Cephalopods, Crinoids, Trilobites and Cleidophorus Neglectus, 
almost wholly disappeared from our shores. The new conditions, 
however, were congenial to the Bryozoans, Chaetetoid Corals and 
Branchiopods, which flourished in extraordinary abundance. 

Land Plants. — Over the land created by the retiring sea more or 
less vegetation sprang up. The first, perhaps, belonged to the myste- 
rious plant life in the Coral period. 



LOWER SILURIAN AGE. 19 

General Distribution. — The Hudson river shales skirt the Green 
Bay and Rock river valley. In the southwestern part of the state, the 
formation underlies the mounds and is found in a few other areas of the 
state. Eastward the strata sweep around Lakes Michigan and Huron, 
appearing on Manitoulin Islands, and the west shore of Georgian Bay. 
They appear in New York, sweeping round the Adirondacks and follow- 
ing the St. Lawrence valley to its terminus. The formation also appears 
in Ohio, Tennessee, Iowa and Minnesota. 

Foreign Equivalents. — The English Lower Silurian embraces the 
Arenig, the Llandeilo, and the Caradoc beds. It also appears in Scot- 
land, Ireland, Scandinavia, and in the Baltic provinces of Russia, in 
Bohemia, Bavaria, and in Spain. The best development, however, is in 
Wales, in the land of the ancient Silures, whence the name is derived." 

Close of Lower Silurian Age. — Wisconsin rock series, of the 
Lower Silurian age, is closed with the Hudson river shales. The rock- 
written record of this epoch is so clear and legible, that from its pages 
we read that, after the long period of submergence, the entire area of 
the state then became dry land. 




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Chapter VII. 

UPPER SILURIAN AGE. 

Subdivisions. — ^The Upper Silurian age embraces two periods: the 
Niagara and the Helderburg,* The epochs of the Niagara period are: 
(i) the advancing sea; (2), the epoch of transition, characterized by 
Chnton shales and ore beds; (3), the advancing sea, which occasioned 
the Niagara Hmestone; and, (4) the shallow and retiring sea, which 
includes the Salina deposits. 

The Helderburg period embraces three epochs: (i) the advancing 
and deepening sea, including the Salina group; (2), the advancing sea 
and its limestone deposits; and, (3) the retiring sea. 

CLINTON EPOCH. 

This formation consists of shales, limestone, and iron ore. The 
greatest thickness of the iron ore in the state is 25 feet. 

Clinton Iron Ore. — The iron deposit of this epoch is local and 
principally characterized at Iron Ridge, in Dodge county, where its 
maximum thickness is 25 feet. From this point it spreads out and 
immediately disappears. A small deposit occurs under the village of 
Hartford, while at Cascade Falls, east of De Pere, the formation again 
occurs, but it is only about five feet in depth. At other points it is only 
marked by iron staining. The iron ore deposit is commonly known as 
"shot ore," or "mustard-seed ore," and is of a reddish-brown color. 
The ore, upon being reduced, produces about 45 per cent, of metal. 

Distribution. — Similar deposits are found in the same geological 
horizon, at different points from Ohio eastward, and from Alabama 
northward to Nova Scotia. 

Method of Formation. — Similar ore is now being deposited in 
some of the Swedish lakes, through drainage from ferruginous districts, 
and, as no marine fosssils are found in the strata, it is probable that the 
same system of lake, lagoon and estuary accumulations have here 
produced the same results. 

Fossils. — In the Wisconsin beds no fossils belonging to this deposit 
have been found. 

NIAGARA PERIOD. 

Formation. Derivation. — This period is a limestone formation 
and consists of dolomites of various textures throughout the entire 
deposit. Its thickness in the southern part of the state is 450 feet; at 

* Geologists have divided these two ages into seven epochs. See Wis. Geol., 
Vol. I., 178. 



22 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

Sheboygan about 800 feet. The name is derived from Niagara Falls, 
and the period is prominent for its coral reefs. 

Submergence. — At the close of the previous iron-bearing epoch, 
the sea advanced upon the land and buried all the eastern, southern and 
western portions of the state. This advancing sea brought sedimentary 
elements, which were favorable to the limestone formation which pro- 
duced the Niagara period. 

Coral Reefs. — The most ancient coral reefs yet identified undoubt- 
edly had their seat under the Mayville beds, whose texture shows 
shallow water formation. Along the eastern portion of the state, for a 
distance of sixty miles or more, and extending into Illinois, there lay a 
chain of barren rocks. These reefs were the home of corals of different 
species, and were adorned by Crinoids, Bryozoans, Trilobites, Mollusks 
and the gigantic Zephalopods. One of these reefs, which is partially 
exposed near Saukville, is a mass of coral remains embedded in calcare- 
ous sand. These reefs have been traced as far north as Washington 
aud Ozaukee counties. 

Coral Beds. — In the town of Byron, Fond du Lac county, the 
magnesian limestone reaches a maximum thickness of no feet. The 
color is light gray and cream tints, and at some points handsomely 
mottled with pink. Some portion of the Byron deposit will take a fair 
polish, resembling marble. The Byron deposit constitutes the lower 
coral beds, and is characterized by its abundance of favositoiod corals 
and varieties of Petitamerus Oblongus. The upper coal beds in this 
deposit are prolific with corals which are associated with other species.* 

Life. — The general character of both animal and plant life during 
this period and the attending circumstances are finely portrayed and 
illustrated in Vol. I., Wis. Geol., pp. 188-196. 

Colonizing Tendencies. — The distribution of life during this period 
had a tendency to colonize at different points, as follows: 
Crinoids at Wauwatosa. 
Trilobites at Waukesha. 
Pentamerus Oblongus at Pewaukee. 
Pentamirus Ventricosus at Kewaunee. 
Corals at Saukville, Green Bay, Byron and Mayville. 

Distribution. — The Niagara limestone occupies nearly all of the 
belt between Green Bay, Rock river valley and Lake Michigan. The 
formation also appears in the southwestern part of the state, and, 
undoubtedly, at one time covered the whole southern portion of the 
state. Eastward the formation passes around the basins of Lake 
Michigan and Huron. From Lake Huron it passes southeast to Niagara 
Falls, thence eastward beyond the center of New York, where it thins 

*Geol. Wis., Vol. I., i8g. 



UPPER SILURIAN AGE. 23 

out towards the Hudson river. It occurs in Pennsylvania, Virginia and 
Tennessee. The formation also extends from Eastern Wisconsin across 
Northern Illinois, and northwesterly through Iowa and Minnesota, and 
again appears in the British possessions. 

LOWER HELDERBURG EPOCH. 

Derivation. Formation. — The formation derived its name from 
the Helderburg mountains of New York. The formation in Wisconsin 
is limited to Milwaukee and Ozaukee counties. The formation in 
Milwaukee county is a brittle magnesian limestone deposit. It is thin 
bedded and readily splits into flags. At Ozaukee county the rock is 
closely associated with the Niagara limestone and is covered by the drift. 

THE SALINA EPOCH. 

At the close of the Guelph limestone deposit the sea withdrew for 
a period, depositing the Onondaga salt beds, which were cut off from 
the receding sea. 

After the salt-forming epoch the sea advannced and encroached 
upon the eastern border of Wisconsin, then after a time withdrew, 
leaving the state entirely land for another period. 

Close of Silurian Age. — Taus closed the Silurian age, which was 
remarkable for its quiet conservative progress. Slight oscillations of 
the surface during the age are noticeable, but no profound volcanic 
disturbance occurred, 



Chapter VIII . 

DEVONIAN AGE, OR AGE OF FISHES. 

During the thousands of centuries that had rolled slowly on, the 
land had been covered with water at periods which varied from centuries 
to extended eras, as the records of the rocks bear written and positive 
evidence. 

Name. Formation. — The name was proposed by Murchison and 
Ledwick, to replace the older term red sandstone in the Devonshire 
strata.* 

The Devonian formations embrace: (i), a basal sandstone series; 
(2), a central limestone group; and, (3) an overlying shale and sandstone 
series. 

The age is divided into the following epochs: 

Devonian age:— Closing detrital epochs; central limestone epochs; 
opening detrital epochs. 

It was in the middle of the Devonian age that the sea reached our 
territory, so that the Hamilton epoch, which is one of the three 
subdivided epochs of the central limestone epoch, is the only formation 
in the state of these classes. 

HAMILTON EPOCH. 

Name. Formation. — The name is derived from Hamilton, N. Y., 
where the formation is pronounced. The formation is impure lime- 
stone, and characterized in certain localities on account of its cement 
properties. 

Subdivision of the Period.— The epoch may be said to contain 
three distinct periods; (i), that of advancing waters and coarse deposits; 
(2), deep water and limestone; and, (3) the retiring waters and shaly 
deposits. 

State Distribution. ^The deposit occurs in the eastern margin of 
the state, in the form of magnesian limestone, mingled with salicious 
and illuminous material, and known as the Milwaukee cement rock. 
The deposit is local, and limited to a few miles immediately north of 
Milwaukee. The cement rock is found on the Milwaukee river above 
the city. It is soft, thick bedded, and of a bluish-gray color. 

Life. — At the dawn of this era, the life history of Wisconsin was 
characterized by higher types of both animal and vegetable life, 
although the former was in the form of fishes. At this time the Ohio 

*International Clyclopedia. 



DEVONIAN AGE. 25 

waters were swarming with monster fishes, while in the far-distant 
European seas they flourished at the close of the Upper Silurian Age. 

Insects. — The first known insects appeared in this epoch, although 
none have been found in this state. 

Land Plants. — Although no land plants have been found in the 
state, they appear elsewhere in the formation. It is believed that the land 
was widely covered with both plants and verdure during this epoch. 
The days of flowering plants had not yet arrived. 

General Distribution. — The Hamilton formation skirts the coal 
basin of the lower peninsula of Michigan, and forms limited areas in 
Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Missouri. 

It also extends from Canada to New York, and southward into 
Pennsylvania and Virginia. In Illinois, it emerges from beneath the 
coal measures at Rock Island, and stretches northwesterly through Iowa 
Minnesota, and the British possessions to the Arctic region. On the 
eastern Atlantic coast, it is found in Maine, New Brunswick, and at 
Gaspe. 

The Ocean's Last Known Visit. — The close of the Hamilton period 
witnessed the ocean's last known visit to our territories. If it ever 
afterwards encroached, the rocks did not record the fact. 



Chapter IX. 
THE CARBONIFEROUS AGE. 

Name. Formation. — The name, Carboniferous, was given the age 
because of the carbon contained in the series. This is the most val- 
uable of the rock series, on account of its great storehouse from which 
is obtained tlie supply of coal, iron, and lime. The age embraces: (i), 
a period marked by detrital beds at the base, lime in the center, and 
detrital beds again at the summit; (2), a prominent period of oscilla- 
tion near the sea; and, (3) a period of mountain elevation in the 
western region. 

None of the above formations are found in Wisconsin. It approaches 
within about 100 miles east, south and west. In those days, Wisconsin 
was a peninsula, projecting southward in the region of the carboniferous 
deposits, and was dry land amidst the marshes and shallow seas. 

Fossil Forests. Coal Origin. — The great coal measures have 
generally been formed from the vegetation of the locality. It is 
assumed, from the evidence extant, that the foundations of the great 
coal deposits were originally great forests. 

At Parkfield colliery, near Wolverhampton, in 1844, in the space 
of about one-fourth of an acre, the stumps of seventy-three trees, with 
roots attached, were found. The trees were all broken off close to the 
roots, and from measurements, must have been from one to eight feet 
in circumference, and from eight to thirty feet in length. The trees 
were all converted into coal, and were flattened to the thickness of one 
or two inches. Similiar fossil forests have been found in the coal fields 
of Nova Scotia. 

Ancient Forests. Peat Deposits. — Ancient forests belonging to 
a later period have been found in beds of peat. From numerous evi- 
dences, it is established that some kinds of peat have their origin in the 
destruction of forests. At Blair-Drummond, the peat stratum is from 
eight to ten feet in depth, and in some places even twenty feet. Many 
of these trees were felled by the ax of the Romans, when they were in 
possession of the country, which is proved by the "corduroy" roads 
which led from one camp to another, and the finding of the camp kettles 
at the bottom of the peat deposit. 

Life. — The new relations between the sea and the land, occasioned 
by the non-trespassing of the former, produced during this age marked 
changes in the character of life. The atmosphere was both warm and 
damp, which conditions were favorable to the mammoth vegetable 
growth, as well as being favorable to a more pronounced animal life. 



CARBONIFEROUS AGE. 27 

Origin of Bituminous Coal. — While, during the great Coal Age, 
the land vegetation flourished in great and luxuriant abundance, Dame 
Nature was kindly storing it away for the use of future ages. Large 
portions of Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Tennessee, Alabama, 
Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Kentucky, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Mis- 
souri, Arkansas, and Texas had not then emerged from the sea. The 
land oscillated near the sea level, sometimes being above and some- 
times below, forming extensive marshes and lagoons. At the stages 
when the surface stood just above the level of the sea, the vegetation of 
the period grew in unparalleled luxuriance. Floating vegetation also 
formed on the lagoons and lakelets, and contributed to the plant deposit. 

The vegetable matter was thus prevented from decay by the pre- 
serving qualities of the water, and in this manner there gathered during 
the lapse of time, beds of great thickness. At length, through changes 
of the earth, the sea returned, bringing with it detrital material, and 
spreading it over these great vegetable beds. Repeated growths, attended 
by repeated oscillation, covered the vegetable deposits and multiplied 
the coal seams, thus giving rise to the great coal measures. 

Associate Iron Strata.— Associated with the coal series we find 
interstratified beds of iron ore, the origin of which is the indirect result 
of the marsh vegetation of the period. 

Area of Iron Deposit.— The larger portion of the coal fields of the 
world belong to this system of formation. It is estimated that 40,000 
square miles of the earth's surface are now covered by productive coal 
fields. 

Rivers. — According to the Devonian system, the Alleghany mount- 
ains were islands and coral reefs during the Devonian period. 

There were no large rivers at this time. The valleys of the Hud- 
son, the Connecticut, the Mississippi, and the St. Lawrence were 
merely outlined. The interior Mediterranean opened south into the Gulf 
of Mexico, and north into the Arctic sea, covering a large portion of the 
present continent with shallow lagoons, separated by low, sandy areas. 

Upheavals. — During the Peruvian period* of this age, the pro- 
nounced settling of eastern portions of the United States was followed 
by epochs of great upheavals. The rock waves that formed the 
Appalachian mountains, with their thousands of feet of fractured rock, 
bear evidence of those great events. 

*See Le Conte, Elements of Geol., p. 400. 



Chapter X. 
THE AGE OF REPTILES. 

European geologists have divided this age into three groups, viz : 
(i), the Triassic, because in Germany there are three distinct sub- 
divisions; (2), the Jurassic, on account of its remarkable display in the 
Jura mountains; and, (3) the Cretaceous, on account of its English and 
French-chalk deposits. 

The American Mesozoic era is divided into: (i), the Jura-Trias, 
and, (2) the Cretaceous. 

American Distribution. — The Triassic series is overlapped upon the 
Atlantic and Gulf borders, and in the western plains and mountains, but 
does not closely approach Wisconsin. The Jurassic series occurs in the 
same region, but in the Missouri and Mississippi valleys it extends east, 
covering the portions of Iowa and Minnesota bordering upon our stave. 
The Wisconsin deposit is supposed to be Cretaceous drift from 
Minnesota, as it only appears upon the northwestern edge of our state. 

Effects of Upheaval. — The Appalachian revolution caused marked 
changes in the geography of the country, as well as in the climate. The 
ocean contracted, and mountain ranges appeared from the depth of the 
sea, causing diverse atmospheric currents, thus inaugurating new climate 
conditions. 

Transformation of Species. — The transformation of the geography 
of the country, together with the new climate conditions, produced an 
extraordinary and sudden change of living species, which has no fossil- 
iferous parallel in life history. 

Reptiles. — The new life era was characterized by the enormous 
development of the Reptilian species. They were not only monsters 
in size, but were monstrosities in form. In the waters were great 
swimming saurians, with the combined characteristics of both fish and 
lizard, while monsters of the combined character of the whale and croco- 
dile were numerous. 

The monstrous plesiosaurus had a turtle-like body, a snake-like 
head, and cetacean paddles.* 

During this age the sea, the air, and the earth, were peopled and 
ruled by these monsters. Amphibians that are now represented by 
frogs, apd such diminutive animals, were then represented by laby- 
rinthodonts of an extraordinary. size. 

The sea saurians were from seventy to eighty feet in length, while 
the smaller species were from thirty to forty feet in length, but had 

*Wis. Geol., Vol. i, 226. 



30 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

powerful bodies. The dinosaurs were of elephantine proportions* 
and were thirty to forty feet in length, while the Atlantus-aurus, that 
lived in western regions, had a total length of loo feet. Crocodilians 
were several times the length of the modern species, vi^hile the huge 
turtles were fifteen feet across, and were among the lesser attractions of 
this great menagerie of reptiles. 

Reptilian Birds. — Solenhofen is the earliest known fossil bird. 
The celebrated solenhofen was possessed of full clothing of feathers, 
was armed with teeth, and had a long vertebrated tail, with the caudal 
feathers attached on both sides, two to a joint. At this early date, 
there was remarkable diversity between these birds, notwithstanding 
, their reptilian affinities.* 

Mammals. — In the Triassic period, we find Marsupiataf type of 
mammals,! which were the lowest of the class, and possessed reptilian 
features. 

Fishes. — The fish type during thi speriod also had reptilian feat- 
ures. This character lingered through the Mesozoic era, and only 
died away in the beginning of the Tertiary age, and was superseded 
by the Teliost type. 

Diversity of Verdure. — During the Carboniferous age the 
Acrogeus§ predominated, and in the Jura-Trias the Gymnosperms; dur- 
ing the Cretaceous epoch, the first known forms of Angiosperms, the 
Oak, the Poplar, the Maple, Beech, Hickory, Willow, Sycamore, Sassa- 
fras, and Tulip trees, as well as the Sequoiajl and Palms, adorned the 
earth. 

Geography of the Age. — During this period, there were detached 
basins along the Atlantic border, while an immense bay occupied the 
Lower Mississippi valley and extended north as far as Cairo, 111. A 
large arm of the sea reached north from the Gulf through the region of 
the plains to the Arctic sea. Between the Paleozoic lands of the western 
mountain region were several interlocked seas or bays. The line of sea 
deposit nearly approached us on the west during the Cretaceous period. 

*Prof. Marsh discovered a new type of tooth birds — the Odontornithes. They 
belong to two distinct orders: One corresponding to the Struthious birds of the present 
day, represented by the Ostrich species, with abortive wings and incapable of flight. 
This bird has an elongated bill set with sharp conical teeth, fixed in grooves, similar to 
the lower reptilian types. The other was similar to our ordinary bird, with extraordi- 
nary powers of flight, and armed with a long bill with conical teeth inserted in distinct 
sockets, similar to the higher reptilian types. 

•j- Purse-bearing animals. 

:l:Prof. Owen divided these animals into five tribes. With the exception of one 
American and one Malayan genus, all known existing marsupials belong to Australia, 
Tasmania, and New Guinea. 

^Tree Ferns. 

II Coniferous trees of the Cypress family. The gigantic redwood trees of California 
are one species of this family. 



THE AGE OF REPTILES. 31 

At this time, the waters advanced nearly across Minnesota, fiUing up 
the inequahties of the earth, and eroding the surface with carbonaceous 
and calcareous sediment. 

Mountain Raising and Igneous Ejections. — At the close of the Jura- 
Trias epoch, there appeared an epoch of mountain lifting. The great 
event of the epoch was the elevation of the Sierra Nevada mountain 
range. The igneous ejections which marked the period are found from 
Nova Scotia to North Carolina. 



Chapter XI. 

TERTIARY AGE. 

Name. — Tertiary is the term applied to all the strata of the earth's 
crust above the Cretaceous rocks, except the superficial beds recently 
raised to distinct groups. Tertiary is synonymous with Canozoic, and 
is divided into three divisions, viz. (i), the Pleisocene; (2), the Miocene 
and, (3) the Eocene Periods. 

Formation of Lakes. — The effect of the general elevation at the 
close of the preceding age caused the sea to return to the borders of 
the present continent. Great lakes formed in the interior of the conti- 
nent, and carried on the work of sedimentation, in a manner comparable 
to that of the ocean. 

It is suggested by Prof. Chamberlain that this period in the American 
continent might appropriately be designated as the Great Lake age. 
Innumerable groups of lakes marked the period of the age, and their 
deposits cover large areas of the Great Plains and Cordeleron region, 
embracing large portions of the Tertiary deposits. 

Life of the Age. — At the commencement of the Tertiary age, 
there dawned a new life era, which was occasioned by the favorable 
conditions which followed the retiring sea. The pure waters of the 
lakes, ihe shallow shores, bays and land-locked armlets, afforded both 
attraction and protection for all kinds of animals and birds. Tertiary 
forests and groves were in those da3^s similar to those of our own warm 
temperate zone. 

Animal life became transformed and modernized. The huge 

reptilian monsters and monstrosities no longer ruled the land and the 

sea.* 

*It is suggested by Prof. Chamberlain that the cold produced by the Post-Cretaceous 
elevation brought about the transformation of the reptilian species. 



32 



HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 



The great reptilian Dinosauria* gave place to the still-greater 
mammalian Dinoscerous.f The whole reptilian class at the beginning 
of the Tertiary age gradually sank to subordinate places. 

Mountain Making. — The quietude of the age was disturbed at the 
close of the Eocene period, which caused a moderate elevation along 
the Atlantic. The Coast range was formed at the close of the Miocene 
period, which involved the whole western area, while, at the close of the 
age, there was a general continental elevation which lifted the whole 
several hundred feet above the present altitude. The elevation at the 
north of the continent was more pronounced, and is estimated at from 
looo to 2000 feet above its present position. 

Igneous Eruptions. — From the Miocene period to the Quaternary 
age the western mountain range was in moderate igneous activity. At 
the same time, South America, Europe, and Southern Asia experienced 
similiar activities. The Tertiary age might well be called the age of 
eruptions. 

*The wonderful order of extinct lizards found in the lower Cretaceous beds. They 
were gigantic reptiles, and stood upon four strong limbs. 

fThis was a gigantic animal of elephantine proportions, and armed with three pairs 
of short stout, horns, one on the nose, one on the cheeks, and one on the forehead. It 
resembled the Rhinoceros ot the present day. 




Chapter XII. 

INTERVAL BETWEEN DEVONIAN AND GLACIAL PERIODS. 

Leveling of Heights. — Isle Wisconsin from its very beginning 
was much exposed to the combined incessant atmospheric elements and 
the waging of the oceanic battles, which agencies decomposed the 
exposed portions and washed the sediments into the sea, and became 
the foundation of the adjacent lands. During this interval the mount- 
ainous Archean portion of the state was cut down from its lofty heights 
essentially to its present altitude. The thousands of feet which the 
northern portion of the state once attained are now nowhere more than 
2000 feet above the sea. 

Carving of the Plains. — When the southern portion of the state- 
emerged from the ancient sea it presented an exceedingly plain, smooth 
surface. During the wear of the ages, the plains were channeled and 
carved into hills and valleys, by running streams.* In the ancient 
Laurentian period, the upheavals predetermined the greatd rainage 
system. After the Laurentian period, as from an elevated center, the 
waters have through all subsequent ages been shed towards all points 
of the compass, upon the surrounding lower lands. 

Depth of Ancient Channels. — The Mississippi river channel is 
now at least loo feet above the ancient bed. Loose material was found 
at a depth of 170 feet, while sinking a well at La Crosse, and at Prairie 
du Chien, at a depth of 147 feet. The Rock river, at Janesville, is 
estimated at 250 feet above the ancient bed, which fact strengthens the 
belief that the ancient depth of the Mississippi was greater than that 
indicated. According to the observation of Mr. Strong, the valley was 
filled during the drift period to a height varying from fifty to seventy- 
five feet above its present surface. f 

The Basin of Lake Michigan. — It is maintained by certain geol- 
ogists that the great basin now occupied by Lake Michigan was 
caused by glacial excavations during the era next under consideration. 
Others, on the contrary, maintain that the great basin is only a slightly 
modified river valley, whose outlet was blocked up by glacial debris,. 
and not in any manner due to glacial action. According to Dr. New- 

*A large area in the southern portion of the state was not subjected to the Glacial 
periods. 

fMaj. Warren, in the Am. Jour, of Sci., of Dec, 1878, maintained that the whole 
Mississippi valley was excavated since the Glacial period. The evidence, however, is- 
overwhelmingly against such a view. 



34 



HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 



berry, the bed of Lake Michigan is a "broad, boat-shaped depression, 
sixty to eighty miles wide, descending more than 300 feet below the 
ancient bed of the Mississippi." 

Lake Michigan's Depth. — The present mud-bed of Lake Michigan 
is estimated at 300 feet below tide water, while from 100 to 200 feet is 
allowed for sedimentary accumulations on the bottom of the lake, as not 
only a sheet of glacial drift lies there, but the sediments of all ages. 
Geologists estimate that the rock bottom is at least from 400 to 500 feet 
below tide-water. 

Lake Superior's Basin. — Glancing at the greatest of the lakes, we 
find an irregular contour of margin and bottom, with a depth of more 
than 400 feet below ocean level. This great trough, or basin, was 
formed in ancient Keweenawan times, and was filled during the Cam- 
brian and Lower Silurian ages. This great basin was filled hundreds of 
feet above the present lake level, with sedimentary accumulations. 
Prof. Chamberlain concluded that this great basin was due: (i), to the 
combined drainage system, which carved the basin deeply; and, (2) to 
great glacial movements.* 

*Wis. Geol., Vol. T., 258. 




Chapter XIII. 

QUATERNARY, OR ICE AGE. 

The most remarkable of all the chapters in the earth's history is 
the Glacial period, whose history is legibly written in the great lake 
basins, the river beds and valleys, and engraved upon the rocks 
throughout the great northwest. 

FIRST GLACIAL PERIOD. 

Ice Accumulations. — In the Tertiary age which preceded this 
epoch, the climate was warm, not only on the continent, but in the 
Arctic regions. The character of the inhabitants of the continent, as well 
as the existence of fauna and flora found in the Arctic regions, established 
the fact that the climate was principally warm. 

The Quaternary age was ushered into existence and baptized in 
snow, followed by an exceptionally cold period. The climate was so 
rigorous that the snow-fall during the winter failed to disappear during 
the summer, thus the residue of snow was left over to form a foundation 
for the next snow-fall. Through these continued natural agencies, which 
may have lasted centuries, there accumulated an immense depth of 
snow upon the whole northern regions. According to established 
principles, well illustrated in the perpetual snow of the Arctic and 
Alpine regions, the accumulated mass solidified, by the pressure and 
natural tendency to cohere, aided by the penetrating waters above, 
which congealed below. Thus the immense snow-field became a great 
ice-sheet. 

Glacial Flows. — The laws governing the flow of ice masses have 
repeatedly been demonstrated by such learned and able scientists as 
Agassiz, Forbes, Tyndall, and others. According to these authorities, 
the ice in large bodies is essentially similar to thick, heavy fluids, flowing 
faster over steep slopes and slower over lesser ones, frequently retarded 
by friction along the sides and bottom, while the flow is faster at the top 
and in the center. 

Origin of Glacial Climate. — While the agencies which produced 
the great glacial epochs are still subjects of inquiry and debate, the main 
authorities agree upon two classes of originating influences, viz.: (i), 
geographical changes emphasized by a northern elevation and extension 
of land, producing modification's of oceanic currents; and, (2) astro- 
nomical causes producing long, cold winters and short, hot summers, and 
the reverse. Perhaps a combination of the two causes created the 
glacial climate.* 

*Wis. Geol., Vol I. 287. 



36 



HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 



i«r?ix 



PJRSr GLACIAL PERIOD 



.*■' 






X 



V 






Cv. 



><-. 



>v 




First Glacial Period. — Hypothetical. 



QUATERNARY, OR ICE AGE. 37 

Glacial Course. — The great ice-sheet flowed slowly down from the 
north and northeast, then led away to the southwest by the Superior 
valley, and southward through the Mississippi valley. These great 
glacial streams in passing down the valleys excavated them more deeply. 
The northern portion of Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, and Lake 
Huron, where the glacier first invaded, is more deeply excavated than 
elsewhere. This is accounted for by the natural tendency of the ice to 
melt as it flowed southward. 

Driftless Area. — The Driftless area, in the southern portion of the 
state, shows that the great valleys east and west, aided by northern 
highlands, led away the advancing ice, thus protecting this portion of 
our state from the great ice drift. The Driftless area occupies a large 
area in central, southern and western Wisconsin, and includes a narrow 
strip of land west of the Mississippi, in Iowa and Minnesota, and a 
small portion in northwestern Illinois. The glacial stream was so gigan- 
tically immense that a portion of it passed over the highlands and de- 
scended its southern slope, pe^ietrating to the central portion of the state, 
a distance of more than 100 milo^.* 

Period of Ice Flow. — The duration of the first glacial epoch is 
unknown, but from the unmistakable evidence the period was of short 
duration. After the ice flow reached a certain stage, it melted back 
faster than it advanced, until it finally withdrew from our territory as 
well as from the Canadian highlands. 

Interval Between Glacial Epochs. — Recent investigations of 
the great moraine"!" of the second glacial epoch, and comparisons 
between the first and second drifts, appear to have developed a pro- 
nounced harmony between drift phenomena and a modification of CroU's 
astronomical hypothesis. "Two periods of great eccentricity occurred 
about 200,000 and 100,000 years ago, respectively, with a period of 
low eccentricity between, and once since, in the midst of which we now 
are. "J These two great stages of eccentricity are supposed to have 
furnished conditions favorable to the glacial epochs. 

SECOND GLACIAL EPOCH. 

Nature, during the interval, again accumulated in her great northern 
abode immense ice fields which, for the second time, moved grandly and 
majestically southward. This great ice tour was comparatively unim- 
peded, as it followed in the well-worn path of its predecessor. The great 
glacial movements which affected Wisconsin and the adjacent territor)' 
are designated as follows: 

*Wis. Geol., Vol. i., 270. Annual report of Wis. Geol. Survey, 32. Winchell's 
Annual Report, Nat. Hist. Survey of Minn., 35. Am. Jour, of Sci., Dana's, 1878, 250. 

f Debris left in the track of glaciers. 

tWis. Geol., Vol- I., 287. 



38 



HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 



THE SECOND GLACIAL PERIOD 




THE EXTENT OF THESE MARGINAL LAKES IS UNOETERMl 



■AS:l 



Second Glacial Period. — Hypothetical 



QUATERNARY, OR ICE AGE. 39 

Lake Michigan Glacier. — A great tongue of ice similar in form to 
the lake basin, but extending many miles farther east and west, took its 
mighty course southward and extended some distance into Indiana and 
Illinois. In Wisconsin, this glacier extended from Kewaunee county 
southward and parallel with the lake, through Manitowoc, Sheboygan, 
Fond du Lac, Washington, Waukesha, Jefferson, Walworth, Racine, 
and Kenosha counties. 

Green Bay Glacier. — Another ice tongue moved southward down 
the Green Bay and Rock river valley, spreading out and joining the 
Michigan glacier on the east. This glacier moved northwestward 
through Walworth county, then curved westward across the corner of 
Green county, then northward through Dane, Sauk, Adams, Waukesha, 
Portage, Waupaca, and Shawano counties, into Lincoln, where it joined 
the Keweenawan, in Chippewa valley glacier. 

Chippewa Valley Glacier. — Then, from over the highlands from 
Keweenawa Bay, came another glacier and descended the Chippewa 
river. It formed a junction with the Green Bay glacier in Lincoln 
county, then raPx southwesterly through Taylor and Chippewa counties, 
crossing the Chippewa river, thence it curved northward between 
Chippewa and Barron counties, then followed the watershed between 
the Chippewa and Numakagon rivers, nearly to Lake Superior. 

Lake Superior Glacier. — The greatest glacier of them all was the 
Lake Superior glacier, which passed southwesterly through Lake 
Superior into Minnesota, and lightly touched the northwestern portion 
of our state. This glacier swept across the Mississippi river, south of 
St. Paul, and across the Minnesota river, thence northwest to an 
unknown distance. 

Tracing Ice Movements. — The great ice movements are deter- 
mined: (i), by the wear of the rocks; (2), by the abrasion which prom- 
inences have suffered; (3), by the direction in which the material is 
deposited; (4), by the trend of elongated domes of polished rock; and, 
(5) by arrangement of deposited material. 

Origin of Hills, Kettles, and Ranges. — The areas of hills, ket- 
tles, and ridges in the state correspond to the general direction of ice 
movements during the two epochs. During the great ice drift, an 
immense amount of drift accumulated at the foot of the melting mass, 
which was plowed up into massive ridges. Repeated oscillation gave 
rise to parallel ridges, and explains the complexity of the ranges. 
Whenever a great tongue of ice was thrust into the accumulated mass, 
jagged and broken lines were formed. It has been suggested by Mr. 
Charles Whittelsey, that the ice masses became incorporated in the 
drift, and, upon melting, caused deep depressions which was the origm 
of Kettles.* A large portion of them were undoubtedly caused by 

*Wis, Geol., Vol. I., 281. 



QUATERNARY, OR ICE AGE. 41 

irregularities of the drift material, and the action of the ice upon the 
drift. 

Deposit of Debris. — We are indebted to the glaciers for the large 
amount of different kinds of rock promiscuously deposited over northern 
and eastern Wisconsin. The range sediment, as well as the scattered 
debris, was in part derived from adjacent formations, while some were 
brought from hundreds of miles northward. 

Outlet of the Great Lakes. — During the Quaternary age, Lake 
Michigan's waters were discharged southwesterly into the Mississippi, 
through the Illinois valley, while Lake Erie poured its waters into the 
Mississippi, through the Maumee-Wabash valley. Later on, through 
agencies now unknown, the great lakes poured their waters into the 
northern Atlantic. 

Life History. — The formation of peat deposits and other indica- 
tions of verdure during this inter-glacial period is well established. The 
great lakes and rivers which formed at the time of the glacial retreat, are 
supposed to have buried these vegetable deposits.* Upon the close of 
the second Glacial period, elephants and gigantic mastodons,"}" roamed 
over the whole territory, from Canada to Texas. The relics of these 
great mammals have been exhumed from our swamps, and from the 
crevices in the lead region. 

Man. — In the Post-Glacial period, we find the first remains of man — 
the great king of mammals. In the mussel-beds at Cagliari, in Sardinia, 
which must have emerged from the ocean 20,000 years ago, was found a 
flat ball of baked earthenware, with a hole through its axis. Count De 
La Marmora conjectures that it was used for weighting a fishing net. 
The celebrated Agassiz estimated that it took the coral reefs of the 
southern half of peninsular Florida 135,000 years to form. In one of 
these coral banks, human jaws, teeth, and bones of the feet were found, 
which, according to estimates of that noted authority, must have been 
10,000 years old. 

*Upon the borders of Green Lake, petrified corn-cobs have been exhumed, from 
beneath six feet of glacial debris. 

fThe most complete skeleton ever found in America was discovered, in 1845, at 
Newburg, Orange County, N. Y., in a swamp usually covered with water. This skele- 
ton is now mounted, and is in Boston. The skeleton stands eleven feet in height, and is 
seventeen feet long. The circumference around the ribs is sixteen feet five mches, and the 
tusks are eleven feet long. Similar species belong to the European extinct type. 



Adams 690 6,889 7 



21 



^2 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 



Ashland 1,648 20,063 

Barron 900 i5>4i6 16 

Bayfield 1,406 .. 7,390 8 

Brown 530 39.164 41 

Buffalo 657 15.997 17 

Burnett 891 4,393 4 

Calumet 34° 16,639 17 

Chippewa 1,980 25,143 26 

Clark 1,224 17.708 18 

Columbia 780 28,350 29 

Crawford 535 15.987 16 

Dane 1,200 59.578 62 

Dodge 900 44.984 47 

Door 450 15,682 16 

Douglas 1,336 13.468 14 

Dunn 860 22,664 23 

Eau Claire 64S 30,673 32 

Florence 498 2,604 2 

Fond du Lac 720 44,088 46 

Forest 1,276 1,012.. i 

Grant 1,130 36,651 38 

Green 576 22,732 23 

Green Lake 360 15,163 15 

Iowa 740 22,117 23 

Jackson 992 15. 797 16 

Jefferson 570 33.53° 35 

Juneau 800 17,121 17 

Kenosha 280 15,581 16 

Kewaunee 336 16, 153 16 

Lafayette 630 20, 265 21 

Langlade 876 9,465 10 

Lincoln 700 12,008 13 

Manitowoc 587 37.831 39 

Marathon 1,584 30,693 32 

Marinette 1,118 20,304 21 

Marquette. 481 9,676 10 

Milwaukee 232 236, loi 259 



LIST OF ELEVATIONS. 



43 



Area in 
Square Miles. 



Census, 1890, 
Population. 



Est. Population, 
Sept. 1892. 



Monroe , 

Oconto 

Oneida 

Outagamie . . 
Ozaukee . . . 

Pepin 

Pierce 

Polk 

Portage 

Price 

Racine 

Richland . . . . 

Rock 

St. Croix. . . . 

Sauk 

Sawyer 

Shawano. . . . 
Sheboygan . . 

Taylor 

Trempealeau 

Vernon 

Walworth . . . 
Washburn . . 
Washington . 
Waukesha . . 
Waupaca . . . 
Waushara . . 
Winnebago . 
Wood 



900 23,211.... 24,372 

i>i27 15-009 15.795 

2,036 5,010 5,611 

640 38,690 40,625 

232 i4'943 15-690 

244 6,932 7,625 

570 20,385 21,404 



12,968 13,616 

24,798 26,038 

5-258 5,521 

36,268 38,099 

19,121 20,077 

43.220 45-381 

23,139 24,296 

30,575 32,104 

1,977 2,076 

19,236 20,198 

515 42,489 46,738 



955 • 
792. 

i, 160. 
340- 
570. 
720. 
730 

837- 
1,368. 
1,152. 



990 

732. 
800. 

570 

864. 

432. 

576. 

757' 

645' 

460 , 

828. 



6,731 7.068 

18,920 20,812 

25, III 26,367 

27,860 29.253 

2,926 3,219 

22,751 23,889 

33.270 34-934 

26,794 28,134 

13.507 14,182 

50,097 52,602 

18,127 19.033 



Total 54.450 



1,686.880 



LIST OF ELEVATIONS. 



.\ltOVK LAKK 
.tlllilKi.VN. 

Feet. 



IIKJHKST I'OIXT 
ABOVK OlE.tX. 

Feet. 



Ashford .... 

Auburn 

Azleton 

Beaver Dam 

Beloit 

Black Earth 
Burnett . . . . 
Calumet . . . . 



516 1,094 

490 1,068 



297. 
340- 
314 
232. 

299 ■ 
410. 



875 
918 
892 
810 
877 



Feel- 



IIKJIKST i'OIXT 
ABOVK (HEAX. 

Fsel. 



Cedarburg 352 930 

Center 400 .... 978 

Chilton 669 1,247 

Clinton 373 951 

Delavan 571 i.i49 

De Pere 245 823 

Eagle 370 948 

Eden 515 1,093 



4'- 



HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 



AIIOVK l,AKK IIUilll!:sr POINT 
iniClIUiAN. ABOVE OCKAN. 

Feet. Feet. 

Elba 277 855 

Empire 399 977 

Farmington 439 1,017 

Forest 515 ij093 

Fox Lake 412 ggo 

Franklin 335 913 

Geneva 445 1,023 

Genesee 350 928 

Germantown . . . 328 906 

Granville 212 790 

Green Bay 238 816 

Greenbush 417 995 

Greenfield 255 833 

Haitford 740 1,318 

Holland 307 885 

Jackson 440 1,018 

Janesville 295 873 

Jefferson 442 1,020 

Kewaskum 528 1,106 

Kewaunee 145 723 

Koshkonong 298 876 

Lafayette 443 1,021 

Lake 1 90 768 

Lake Mills 398 976 

Lincoln 232 810 

Lynn 368 946 

Lowell 305 883 

Lyndon 492 1,070 

Magnolia 450 1,028 

Manitowoc 213 791 

Maple Grove. .. . 329 907 

Marshfield (LTVc") 450 1,028 

Menasha 177 755 

Menominee 334 912 

Metomen 42 1 999 

Milton 375 953 

Milwaukee 158 736 

Mount Pleasure.. 203 781 

Newark 379 937 

New Berlin. 336 914 

New Denmark. . . 328 906 

New Holstein.. . . 484 1,062 

Norway 224 802 

Oak Creek 161 739 



ABOVK LAKE IIIGIIKST POINT 
ItlllillUAN. ABOVE OCEAN. 

Feet. Feet. 

Oak Grove 363 941 

Oakland 363 941 

Osceola 566 1,144 

Pewaukee .... . 308 886 

Pierce 179 757 

Pleasant Prairie.. 160 738 

Plymouth 412 990 

Polk 594 1,172 

Portland 340 918 

Prairie du Chien. 41 619 

Randall 340 918 

Red River 285 863 

Rhine 426 1,004 

Richfield 542 1,110 

Ripon 400 978 

Rock 306 884 

Rockland 320 898 

Rosendale 440 1,018 

Saukville 249 827 

Sheboygan 149 727 

Sheboygan Falls, igo 768 

Sherman 473 1,051 

Spring Prairie. . . 401 979 

Spring Valley. .. . 423 1,001 

Stockbridge .... 399 977 

Sturgeon Bay. .. . 460 1,038 

Taycheedah 451 1,029 

Trenton 345 923 

Tray 217 895 

Turtle 330 908 

Union 442 1,020 

Washington 226 804 

Waterford., 330 908 

Waterloo 401 979 

Waukesha 305 883 

Waupun... 314 892 

Wauwatosa 228 806 

West Bend 564 1,142 

Westford 412 990 

Whitewater 317 895 

Woodville 318 896 

Wrightstown .. . . 332 910 

Yorkville 207 785 



Chapter XIV. 

PRE-HISTORIC WISCONSIN. 

Early Asiatic Emigration. — Southward Emigration to Mexico. — Appeasing the 
Gods. — Architecture of the Mysterious People. — Mummification of the Dead. — Ancient 
Unknown Fortifications. — Antiquities. — Mound Builders. 

Wisconsin, and in fact, most of the territory bordering upon the 
great waterways in North America, has been for diverse periods in the 
remote centuries, peopled by various waves of Mongoloid* emigration 
from the continent of Asia. 

The relics of the great hairy mammoth, on both sides of the Straits 
of Behring, is most convincing evidence of a land connection between 
Asia and North America, and is strong evidence in support of the 
theories that North America was peopled from Asiatic waves of emi- 
gration. 

However, if no land connection ever existed, the distance across 
the straits is not so great as to preclude the possibility of their having 
crossed in open boats, as the Eskimo boatmen frequently pass in sum. 
mer from one side to the other, for commercial purposes. 

The islands in the straits are peopled by Eskimo, who traffic 
between the Asiatic and American shores, the distance being less than 
fifty statute miles across the Straits of Behring, besides, the straits are 
always frozen over and passable in winter. 

It is strongly manifest from the accumulation of trustworthy 
evidence, . that a considerable portion of North America was once 
inhabited by the Eskimo race,f who were driven out by the hunting 
Indians. 

There is also evidence extant of Eskimo emigration northward, 
which was probably the receding of that tide of emigration. 

According to Icelandic annals, Lief and Djorn, about A. D. looo, 
established a colony on the Atlantic coast, at or in the vicinity of Rhode 
Island, where they discovered natives, whom they described as dwarfish. 

Some modern writers suggest that the ancient "Tower" at Newport, 
R. I., which shows considerable architectural science, may be the 
remains of Icelandic civilization, during that period. 

There appear to have been two general streams of Asiatic emigra- 
tion: one east of the Rocky mountains, and southward through the 
Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico; thence around its border to the table- 
lands of Mexico — the other and broader route, lay west of the Rocky 
mountains and southward through the great plateau regions, and as far 
south as Rio Gila; thence to Chapala lake. 

*Brown Race. 

fit is well settled that the Eskimo is in no manner related or allied to the Ameri- 
can Indian. 




COPI'ER IMPLEMEXTS IN HISTORICAL ROOMS AT J 



MADISON. 



PRE-HISTORIC WISCONSIN. 47 

The great center of population on the South American coast diffused 
beyond the Isthmus and over North America. Ahnost simultaneously 
we find waves of emigration southward from the Straits of Behring, 
then in time we find a partial receding of the tide. 

Polygenists have argued, and been most ably defended by L. Agas- 
siz and J. C. Nott in their advocac}' of the erroneous theory, that the 
American Indian tribes were the original inhabitants of the soil. 

Extraordinary views have been held by such able men as Dr. 
Rudolph Folb,* Elias Baudinot,t Dr. Deminick M. CauslandJ and 
others, while Alex, von Humboldt, Alex. Winchell and a score of able 
scientists, record their based convictions, that ancient intercourse 
existed between America and eastern Asia. 

From the weight of authorities, we are justifiable in asserting that 
the American Indian tribes are of one race, and differ only from their 
Asiatic ancestors through severance, associations and habits. The 
striking facial resemblance of the Asiatic stock to our American 
Indians is remarkably pronounced, especially so with the Chinese and 
Japanese types of Mongoloids. The obliquely-set eyes and general 
facial expressions all indicate one common origin. 

General Cesnola says that stone instruments, found by him in the 
ancient graves in California, are strikingly similar to some obtained 
from the tombs of Cyprus. Even the pottery of the Pueblos, and that 
of the Santa Barbara Indians of California, are similar to the Egyptian 
and Grecian potter}'. 

M. Charney, the great French traveler, while exploring eastern 
and western Java, discovered a close resemblance between the remains 
of the Hindu, Buddhist civilization, and that of ancient Mexico. 

In the grim Canon de Tsay-ee, in the Navajo country, is a cata- 
comb of genuine mummies. These were the ancient cliff-builders. 

In the San Juan country, in the extreme northwest corner of New 
Mexico, are situated cliff-built ruins, wherein are embalmed the bodies 
of their ancestors. This is suggestive of Egyptian origin. The discov- 
ery of well-preserved mummies, from New Mexico and southern Pata- 
gonia, leads us to believe that the mummification of the dead was 
caused by a controlling motive which was inherited from ancestors, who 
dwelt in a more propitious climate. 

The history of ancient Mexico exhibits two distinct periods. The 
former that of the Toltecs, which is thought to have begun in the sev- 
enth, and to have ended in the twelfth century, while that of the Aztecs 

*Dr. Folb discovered the relation of the Quinchua and Aymara language to the 
Aryan and Semite tongue, consequently his opinion was based on the theory that the 
primitive seat of the human species was in Peru or Bolivia. 

fBaudinot maintains that the American Indians are the posterity of the "Lost 
Tribes of Israel." 

XT)r Causland maintains that the Hykess, or "Shepherds," driven from Egypt, 
found their way to America, and he thus accounts for the American Indians. See 
Causlard's Adam and Adamites, pp. 226-227. Also same author's work, The Builders 
of Babel, pp. 84-101. 




< 

w 
X 

H 



13 

pq 



< 

la 

< 

>< 
w 



PRE-HISTORIC WISCONSIN. 49 

began in the year 1200, and closed by the conquest of Cortes in 1519. 
The primitive seats of the Toltecs will ever be shrouded in mystery, 
although tradition says that they came from the north, from some 
undefined locality which they call Tuoalan,* whence they brought to 
Mexico the first elements of civilization. 

They cultivated the land, made roads, erected monuments, and 
built pyramids.f greater in dimensions than those of Egypt. 

They built magnificent temples and beautiful cities, whose ruins in 
various parts of Mexico and Central America still bear evidence of their 
architectural skill. They were well versed in many of the arts and 
sciences; they knew how to fuse metals, cut and polish stones, make 
earthenware and weave various fabrics, and were also acquainted with 
the movements of the heavenly bodies; they measured time by a solar 
year, composed of eighteen months of twenty days each, adding five 
days to make up the three hundred and sixty-five days. 

Nothing is known of the time, manner, or the cause of the departure 
of the Toltecs from Mexico; but it is believed that they went southward, 
and built the cities of Palenque, Uxmal, and Mitia, in Central America. 

The Aztecs succeeded the Toltecs, but they appear to be have been 
in disposition the reverse of the Toltecs, as their somber cruelty]; 
astonished even the Spaniards by its terrible ferocity. The Aztecs, 
like their predecessors, also came from some unknown place northeast- 
ward, and, after wandering from place to place, founded the city of 
Quenochitlan, or Mexico, in 1325. Upon the arrival of the Spaniards 
the Aztec empire extended from ocean to ocean. 

The traditions of the Mexican nations show a pronounced southern 
movement of emigration from a distant country called Atzlan. 

*Frequently called Atzlan. 

fThe architecture of the ancient Aztecs is very similar to the remains of ancient 
Egypt, India and Greece. The pyramids have even a larger base and are otherwise 
scarcely inferior to those of Egypt. The most important edifices were devoted to the 
purposes of religion. These are called Teocallis, and are similar to the Egyptian temples 
which contain apartments for the priests They contain also sepulchral chambers 
with descending galleries, leading some into cavernous recesses, which it is conject- 
ured, were used for religious mysteries. These buildings were generally in pyramidical 
form, rising in successive stories one above the other, each successive one being 
smaller. The Holy place or temple in built upon the summit. The sides of the 
pyramids face the cardinal points, differing a little from the Egyptian pyramids. This 
style of architecture is displayed at Palenque, in Mexico. The city of Palenque exhibits 
various buildings, temples, etc. The palaces of the kings are based on pyramidal 
structure 

:}:The Aztecs believed in a supreme being, named Tatol. This supreme being was 
assisted by thirteen chiefs and two hundred inferior divinities, each of whom had his 
sacred days and festivals. The temples of the gods, which were annually drenched in 
the blood of 20,000 captives, were the most splendid and imposing edifices in the 
empire. Cortes and his companion, Diaz, were permitted by Montezu.ma to enter the 
sacred temple, in the city of Mexico, and to behold the god. "He had a broad face, 
wide mouth and terrible eyes. He was covered vv-ith gold and precious stones, and was 
girt about with golden serpents On his neck, as fitting ornaments, were the faces of 
men, wrought in silver, and their hearts in gold; close by braziers with incense, and on 
the braziers three real hearts of men who had that day been sacrificed." 

According to Help's Spanish Conquests in America, in the years immediately pre- 
ceding the conquests of that country by the Spanish, not less then 20,000 victims were 
annual!}- gi\'en up lo the gods 



5P HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

Von Humboldt thought the mysterious and unknown Atzlan was 
located in the vast prairie regions, and Von Hellwald thought it located 
as far north as the basin of the Great Lakes; while others, for well- 
grounded reasons, locate it in the region of Lake Pepin and western 
Wisconsin. 

The Aztecs, according to the Aztec annals, left their mysterious 
Atzlan in logo; more than one hundred years later they had only arrived 
at Anahuac, on the beautiful tablelands of Mexico, where they founded 
a civilization which excited the wonder of the civilized world.* 

Jonathan Carver, the celebrated English traveler, while on the 
upper Mississippi, in 1766, discovered an ancient fortification which he 
described in this manner: 

"One day, having landed on the shore of the Mississippi, some 
miles below Lake Pepin, whilst my attendants were preparing my din- 
ner, I walked out to take a view at the adjacent country. I had not 
proceeded far before I came to a fine, level, open plain, on which I per- 
ceived, at a little distance, a partial elevation that had the appearance 
of an intrenchment. On a nearer inspection, I had greater reason to 
suppose that it had really been intended for this, many centuries ago. 
Notwithstanding it was now covered with grass, I could plainly discern 
that it had once been a breastwork of about four feet in height, extend- 
ing the best part of a mile, and sufficiently capacious to cover five 
thousand men. Its form was somewhat circular, and its flanks reached 
to the river. Though much defaced by time, every angle was distin- 
guishable, and appeared regular, and fashioned with as much military 
skill, as if planned by Vauban himself. The ditch was not visible, but 
I thought, on examining more curiously, that I could perceive there cer- 
tainly had been one. From its situation also, I am convinced that it 
must have been designed for this purpose. It fronted the country and 
the rear was covered by the river; nor was there any rising ground for a 
considerable way that commanded it; a few straggling oaks were alone 
to be seen near it. In many places, small tracks were worn across it by 
the feet of the elk and deer, and from the depth of the bed of earth by 
which it was covered, I was able to draw certain conclusions of its great 
antiquity. I examined all the angles, and every part with great atten- 
tion, and have often blamed myself since for not encamping on the spot, 
and drawing an exact plan of it. 

"To show that this description is not the offspring of a heated 
imagination, nor the chimerical tale of a mistaken traveler, I find on 
inquiry, since my return, that Monsieur St. Pierre, and several traders, 
have at different times, taken notice of similar appearences, on which 
they have formed the same conjectures, but without examining them so 
minutely as I did. How a work of this kind could exist in a country 

*Col. J. W. Foster, after much careful study, concluded that the people who 
developed the ancient civilization of Mexico and Central America, were expelled from 
the Mississippi valley by a fierce and barbarous race. 



PRE-HISTORIC WISCONSIN. 51 

that has hitherto (according to the generally-received opinion) been the 
seat of war of untutored Indians alone, whose whole stock of military- 
knowledge has only till within two centuries, amounted to drawing the 
bow, and whose only breastwork even at present is the thicket, I know 
not. I have given as exact an account as possible of this singular 
appearance, and leave to future explorers of these distant regions to 
discover whether it is the production of nature or art. Perhaps the 
hints I have here given might lead to a more perfect investigation of it, 
and give us very different views of the ancient state of realms, that we 
at present believe to have been, from the earliest period, only the habi- 
tation of savages." 

George W. Featherstonhaugh, who was sent out by the war depart- 
ment of the United States, to make a geological exploration of the upper 
Mississippi, in 1835, reported to that department that this ancient forti- 
fication then was in about the same condition as described by Carver, 
in 1766. 

The ruins of another ancient and pre-historic fortification are near 
the city of Jefferson, on the west branch of the Rock river, in the county 
of Jefferson. Judge Nathaniel Hyer, who resided at Jefferson in the 
early days, called these ancient ruins the "City of Aztalan." This was 
upon the hypothesis that the Aztecs of Mexico once inhabited this 
country. Judge Hyer, in 1840, after an examination of this noted spot, 
described the ruins in this graphic manner: 

"The citadel consisted of a brick wall, which at the base is from 
twenty to twenty-five feet wide, at the present time, and, as I should 
judge, about five feet in height; the projections of the walls have cer- 
tainly the appearance of buttresses, as constructed upon military 
works at this day; they are constructed also of brick, regularly built, at 
intervals of from two to five rods, and extending beyond the wall about 
seventeen feet, of the same height as the main wall. The eastern wall, 
and parallel with, and immediatel}^ upon, the bank of the river, is, at 
this time, but slightly visible, nor are there any appearances of but- 
tresses, as upon the other portions of the wall. In proceeding upon the 
supposition that these are the ruins of an ancient fortification, we may 
conclude that, inasmuch as the eastern side was defended from ingress 
by a deep and rapid stream, a wall and buttress similar to the one I 
have attempted to describe as bounding the western side, would have 
been unnecessary. The whole area within the wall comprises about 
twenty acres; within the inclosure are a number of square mounds, or 
elevated plains of the height of fifteen or twenty feet, as I should judge, 
and perhaps forty or fifty feet square, upon the top, while others are of 
a more conical shape, and from their situation appear as what might 
now be termed block-houses, or places of look-out; that such was the 
object of their construction I am not prepared to say. There is also a 
distinct ridge, running east and west, connecting two of the towers or 



52 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

mounds, as well as two parallel ridges, running north and south, and 
extending nearly the whole length of the inclosure. There is also a 
stairway, I am informed, yet visible descending within the mound at 
the northwest angle of the ruins; this, in my hurried examination, 
escaped my notice; I can therefore say nothing respecting it. The 
same remarks must also apply to the termination of a sewer, which is 
said yet to be perceived at a bend, or angle about midway in the eastern 
wall; this sewer is said to about three feet below the surface, and arched 
with stone. Whether through this sewer water was supplied from the 
river, or not, others can judge. Without the inclosure, and at those 
points where this work is not protected by the river, are numerous 
mounds, varying from three to twenty-five feet in height, and from 
twenty to a hundred feet in circumference; and particularly at the south- 
west angle, there is an embankment forming the arc of a circle with 
projections resembling the buttresses represented in the main wall, 
which require but little stretch of the imagination to suppose was 
intended as an outwork for the defense of that particular point. 

"In examining one of these mounds, I found the remains of a human 
skeleton, which had been previously exhumed, although, by the action 
of fire, the bones had been so completely charred, that they readily 
crumbled to pieces in the hand. 

"One word as to the brick wall: Let me not be understood to say, 
that there is in the brick here found any regular appearance of brick- 
laying, as at present practiced. The walls which I examined and from 
which at many different points, with a mattock I broke off specimens, 
present now the appearance of a mass of burned clay. In what manner 
at first constructed, there is nothing to indicate; but that the walls and 
parapets consist of brick, rudely burned and prepared with straw, after 
the ancient mode, the different specimens I gathered bear sufficient 
witness." 

Mark R. Harrison, the famous Fond du Lac artist, while excavat- 
ing the foundation for his summer residence, on the east shore of Green 
Lake, a few years ago, at the depth of five or six feet, through loam, 
clay and stone, discovered several carbonized corn-cobs.* About this 
time he also discovered in an adjacent piece of forest a granite stone or 
detached boulder, upon which was rudely drawn the history of an 
ancient event. On the margin or edges are cut stars, moons, canoe, 
half-moons and other figures. At one side, near the center, is an apparent 
group of warriors sitting on the ground, one of which appears to 
have feathers in his head-dress or hair. A short distance from this 
group stands a figure with bow and arrow upraised and pointed at a 

*In the royal library at Paris an ancient Chinese book contains the representation 
of the corn, or maize plant. It is alleged that grains of corn were discovered in an 
ancient cellar at Athens. It is generally supposed that maize is the natural and original 
product of America, as the Aborigines cultivated it long before America was discovered, 
although a smaller species is a native of Chili. 



PRE-HISTORIC WISCONSIN. 53 

figure tied to a tree. On the ground close by is apparently a prisoner 
with arms outstretched. The stone upon which these figures are cut, is 
so hard that the finest steel implements will hardly make an impression. 
This granite boulder having been found in a region where there are no 
natural granite deposits naturally creates the presumption that it was 
drift, deposited there during the glacial period. 

Among the numerous ancient relics found in Wisconsin, several 
were taken from an ancient grave near Fond du Lac, in i86g, by the 
employees of the Fond du Lac and Sheboygan Railroad Company, 
while excavating near the Taycheedah ledge, a short distance from the 
east shore of Lake Winnebago. From this ancient grave were taken a 
skeleton, many bones, a breast plate of copper, monstrous sea shells 
a small golden image, and several copper needles, tempered to the 
hardness of steel. 

In the old copper mines of Lake Superior, which were partially 
worked many centuries ago, by unknown people, were found stone ham- 
mers, a copper gad, a copper chisel and a socket for the handle, a 
copper knife, pieces of a wooden bowl, levers of wood, and pieces of 
charcoal. 

Upon a mound of earth which had been thrown out from one of these 
mines, grew a pine tree ten feet in circumference, and upon a similar 
mound a hemlock was cut whose annular growth counted 395 years.* 

Not many years ago, Dr. Hoy, of Racine, opened an ancient mound 
in that vicinity, and found the skeletons of seven persons, in a sitting 
position, facing i/ie east. In a similar mound he found two ancient vases, 
resembling those in use by the Burmesej one was made of cream-colored 
clay, with a capacity of about five quarts, and the other was of a reddish 
brick color, of smaller capacity. The antiquity of these mounds cannot 
be doubted, as gigantic trees stand upon them, the growth of which 
is estimated by Dr. Hoy as being one thousand years old.f 

The most scholarly and authentic ethnologists and craniologists of 
the present time, after a careful comparison of the skulls of the ancient 
mound-builders, with those of the ancient and pre-historic Mexicans and 
Peruvians, find a general similarity of conformation. J 

The monuments of the pre-historic dead, which at one time dotted 
our land, from the Wisconsin to Galena, and from Lake Michigan to 
the Mississippi, have largely given way before the pace of civilization. 

In Wisconsin, the monuments of the mysterious mound-builders are 
more diversified in structure than in any other locality. They are of 
various forms or shapes, and are from three to ten feet above the sur- 
rounding ground. Besides the. conical or round mounds, some are in 
the shape of crosses, while effigies of the buffalo, fox, bear, deer, lizzard, 

*Strong's Hist Wis. Ter., 99. 

fTuttle Hist. Wis., 56 

IWinchell's Preadamite, 339. 

Kelzius — Trans for Smithsonian Annual Reports, 1858, 264-267. 



27 




COPPER IMPLEMENTS IN HISTORICAL ROOMS AT MADISON. 



PRE-HISTORIC WISCONSIN. 55 

the eagle and other birds, as well as men recumbent, with arms and legs 
outstretched, are frequently found. On the old road from Madison to 
Mineral Point, the track formerly passed between two rows of round 
mounds, apparently at equal distances apart, and opposite each other, 
which forcibly reminds one of traveling the streets of an ancient village. 
General Smith once remarked that, upon more than one occasion, he 
had from one point counted from fifty-six to sixty, lying on both sides of 
this commonly-traveled road. The skeptical inhabitants, who once 
resided in the vicinit}' of these ancient repositories of the dead, led Dr. 
Locke to use the following language, in his report of 1840, while refer- 
ring to the animal mounds, viz.: "The geologist suddenly and unex- 
pectedly meets with these groups of gigantic bas-reliefs, which appear 
to him as decidedly artificial as the head of Julius Caesar, on an ancient 
coin, notwithstanding anything which may be imagined or said to the 
contrary." 

Mr. Richard C. Taylor, who visited Wisconsin in 1838, says that at 
one spot near the present city of Madison at least one hundred of these 
mounds could be counted. Upon the summit of man}' of these mounds, 
recent Indian graves were made. He also speaks of the pronounced 
efiigies of at least six quadrupeds in the vicinity of the Blue Mounds, 
one of which was circular, one human figure, one circular or ring, were 
the most pronounced of this group. The old Indian war-path which 
led from Lake Michigan, near Milwaukee, to the Mississippi above 
Prairie du Chien, passed along the edge of these earth-mounds.* 

Mr. Stephen Taylor, in his communication in Stillman's Journal, 
delineated several of these animal-shaped mounds, among which was a 
buffalo-shaped mound, with a hump, or raised back, the head having 
protuberances resembling horns. The figure of a bear measured from 
forehead to rump fifty-six feet. Mr. Taylor also delineated a singular 
human-shaped mound, having two heads gracefully reclining toward the 
shoulders, and the whole figure so gracefully rounded that it led him to 
use the following language in speaking of this figure: "The perfection 
of this truly singular and interesting specimen of ancient earthworks is 
convincing evidence that the ancient inhabitants of this region were, at 
one time, not as ignorant of the arts as we have reason to believe the 
present race of Indians are." 

West of the city of Madison, on the old path leading to Mineral 
Point, were two animal-shaped mounds, representing foxes with long 
tails. According to Mr. Taylor's measurement, they measured respect- 
tively 102 and 120 feet. Two trees, sixteen inches in diameter, were 
growing in the nose of one of these figures in 1842. 

*According to Mr. Taylor, amidst this group, was the representation of a human 
figure, lying east and west, and the arms and legs extended. Its length was 125 feet, 
the body or trunk was thirty feet in breadth, and the head twenty-five feet, while the 
elevation along the general surface of the prairie was six feet. Its configuration was 
so distinct that no possibility of a mistake could arise, in assigning it to the human 
figure. 



56 



HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 



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a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, 1, m, n, o, p, q Animal Mounds. Astec Fortification, r. 



PRE-HISTORIC WISCONSIN. 57 

At the time the Sauk Mills were built on Honey Creek, near Prairie 
du Chien, in 1851, a large Indian mound was hauled away for the pur- 
pose of making a dam. It was found composed of light-colored clay as 
far as the level of the ground. The clay then disappeared, which evi- 
denced the fact that the clay had been brought there and deposited. 

In this mound the entire skeleton of a man, together with a number 
of well-formed spears, and arrow-heads of flint were found. 

Some of the United States officials in their explorations of the 
regions around Lake Superior, in 1850, found traces of monuments con- 
structed in the form of mathematical figures; while on the right bank of 
the Ontonagon river, six miles above its mouth, is a mound forty feet 
high and nearly circular. On Section 16, Town No. 50, Range No. 39, 
near a small stream was found a pj'ramid ten feet in height, whose sides 
are fifteen feet in length. It was flat on top and sloped gradually to the 
base.* This structure is similar to the Toacalli of Mexico. 

From northwestern Wisconsin, through the great Mississippi valley 
and beyond the state line, — upon the great waterways emptying into 
the great Father of Waters, together with the old historic waterways 
connecting the great lakes with the Mississippi, — in the grand old 
forestsf as well as in the great prairies, the monuments of a mysterious 
race ,long since gone, leave us only a record which excites our curiosity 
without contributing any satisfactory knowledge. 

The remnants of ancient fortifications and earthworks, J the old par- 
tially worked copper mines on Lake Superior, the tons of stone and cop- 
per implements, are conclusive evidence that Wisconsin, in the dim and 
unknown centuries, has been the great center for the pre-historic races. 

*Foster and Whitney's report, Vol. i. 

Hist, of Wis., Vol. 3, 262. 

fNumerous pre-historic mounds are found in the great forests of Wisconsin. 

^Another line of mounds extends from Lake Winnebago in Taycheedah, Fond du 
Lac county, to the headwaters of the Sheboygan river, and thence down its course to 
Lake Michigan. The early voyagers claimed a portage from Lake Winnebago to the 
Sheboygan river. A similar line of mounds extended through or along the west branch 
of the Fond du Lac river to Lamartine, thence to the headwaters of the Rock river in 
the town of Waupun. This was also an available canoe route, two hundred years ago. 

Hist. Fond du Lac County, 235. 




PSVCHK BY THE SEASIDE. 




Coi.u.MiJLs — From a Cklkhka i ed Painiinh;. 



Chapter XV. 

SPANISH EXPLORERS AND EXPLORATIONS. 

Columbus and His Discoveries. — Queen Isabella's Generosity. — Ferdinand's Perfidy. — 
Ponce de Leon, while Searching for the "Fountain of Life," Discovers Florida. — 
Balboa Discovers the Pacific Ocean, and is Beheaded by De Vila. — Life of Hernando 
Cortes, the Conqueror of Mexico. — Mexican Mythology, — Death of Montezuma, the 
Emperor of Mexico. — Alleged Discovery of the Mississippi by Pineda. — Narvaez, 
the Contemporary of Columbus, Participates in the Conquest of Domingo, Jamaica, 
and Cuba. — He is sent to Mexico to Arrest Cortes, but is Taken Prisoner at Zem- 
pollia. — His Death. — Cabeza de Vaca's Thrilling Experience. — Reaches Mexico 
after Seven Years of Vicissitudes. — Life of De Soto. — His Untimely Death on the 
Mississippi River, and His Burial. — The Visionary Corondo Searching for the 
" Seven Cities of Cibola." — The Spanish Claim the Whole Country from the Gulf 
to Canada. — Spain Surrenders Her Possessions in Florida. 

Let us not forget the good, noble and generous Isabella,* Queen of 
Spain, while honoring the memory of the greatest of explorers whose 
names are recorded in history, and while revering the memory of Chris- 
topher Columbusf and Queen Isabella, let us be generous and forgive 
the perfidy of Ferdinand, | for allowing so great a man to die in poverty, 
after his valuable life had been shortened by bitter, persistent, and 
jealous persecutions. 

On that third da}' of August, 1492, when Christopher Columbus, 
amidst the pomp and grandeur of the court of Spain, started in search 

*It will be remembered that Queen Isabella, in her earnestness, while referring to 
the expense of equipping the expedition, said: "I pledge my jewels to raise the money." 
The Court Treasurer advanced most of the money to equip the three small vessels for 
Columbus, while the friends of Columbus furnished the balance. The total sum fur- 
nished was about $20,000. 

fColumbus was born near Genoa, according to some authorities, in 1436, and, 
according to other authorities, in 1446. He was the son of a wool-comber, and for 
some time attended the great school of learning at Pavia, where he evinced a profound 
taste for astronomy and cosmography. He then went to sea, and, after making several 
voyages in the Mediterranean, finally settled in Lisbon in 1470. He then married 
Phillipa, the daughter of Bartholomew de Palestrello, who was a distinguished Italian 
navigator in the Portugese service, and with his wife obtained many valuable charts, 
journals, and memoranda. 

Apparently with a view of better qualifying himself for the great enterprise, to 
which he believed Heaven had pointed him out, he made several voyages to the Azores, 
the Canaries, and the coast of Guinea, the limit of European navigation in those days. 
It was not until about 1483 that Columbus laid his scheme before John II., of Portugal. 
This monarch referred the matter to a junta of nautical and scientific men, who decided 
against it. The king, however, in a clandestine manner, took advantage of the detailed 
plan obtained from Columbus under false pretenses, and secretly sent out a vessel to 
examine the route. The emissaries of the king and their pilots, not being venturous 
navigators, soon returned to Lisbon and ridiculed the project. 

Columbus, being disgusted with the duplicity of his sovereign, secretly left Lisbon 
in 1484, taking with him his motherless boy, Diego. He then unfolded his plans to the 
authorities at Genoa, who treated his scheme as a product of a visionary brain. Disap- 
pointed, but not despairing, Columbus turned his steps toward Spain. One day, weary 
and hungry, he stopped at the gate of the Convent of La Rabida, in Andalusia, to beg 



6o HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

of another hemisphere, the sun arose upon a beautiful unknown land, 
peopled only by savages; a land destined to become so great that the 
Old World§ will become only secondary in consideration. 

The long line of early Spanish navigators and explorers is headed 
by the brave and resolute Columbus, || who discovered San Salvador, 
and, in the name of Ferdinand and Isabella, took possession of the 
country on Friday, October 12th, 1492. 

We next find him, in 1498, on the coast of South America, and in 
1502-1503, on the Central American coast. 

Juan Ponce de Leon,^ once the page of Ferdinand V., arose to 
distinction in the wars against the Moors, in Granada, and was one of the 
companions of the great navigator, on his second voyage to Hispaniola, 
in 1493, and finally became commander of the eastern province. In 
1512, he became absorbed with the mythical idea that the "Fountain of 
Youth" existed in the Bahamas, and having failed to find it, he sailed 
westward, and arrived on the coast of Florida, on Easter Sunday, 151 2. 

bread and water for his child, and there met the Superior of the Convent, |uan Perez 
de Marchena, through whose influence he finally procured the favorable consideration 
of the king and queen of Spain. 

On August 3d, 1492 Columbus set sail from the bar of Saltes, near Palos. He 
delayed a month at the Canaries, to refit the expedition, then on September 6th, he 
started over the unknown seas. After battling with the open disaffection of the crew, 
his perseverance was finally rewarded on the 12th of October, by the sight of land, 
which proved to be one of the Bahama Islands. Here he landed and solemnly planted 
the cross, and named the island, San Salvador. After discovering several of the West 
India Islands, including Cuba and Hayti, or S?.n Domingo, he set sail for Spain, after 
first having settled a colony at Hispaniola, where he arrived on March 15th, 1493, and 
was received amidst great pomp and joy. 

In September of the same year, he set sail from Cadiz, with 17 ships and 1500 men. 
On their voyage he discovered the Carribee Islands, Jamaica, etc., and returned in 1496. 
He again set sail in 1498, on the third expedition; this time he steered more southward, 
and discovered Trinidad and the mouths of the Orinoco, and landed at Paria, on the 
coast of South America. He then steered for Hispaniola, where he found everything in 
chaos. The king's mind had been poisoned by slanderous tongues, and an officer, named 
Bobadilla, had been appointed to supersede Columbus as governor, and by the new 
governor Columbus was sent home in chains. After Columbus was released, he 
succeeded in equipping four vessels and 150 men, and on May 9th, 1502, again started 
cut to seek a passage uniting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. The mutinous character 
of his crew forced him to seek gold, and, after many difficulties and disasters, he 
returned to Spain in 1504. 

:t:Ferdinand's baseness was forcibly depicted in causing Columbus to be arrested 
and brought to Spain from Hispaniola in irons, and by allowing him to remain in pov- 
erty at Valladolid, many months prior to his death, which occurred May 20th, 1506. 
Ferdinand then repented of his great injustice, and gave Columbus a pompous funeral, 
and afterwards erected a magnificent monument to his memory. 

§Max O'Rell, in "Jonathan and his Continent," after describing the expanse of 
3000 miles of beautiful landscape between New York and San Francisco, dotted with its 
beautiful cities and inhabited by 60,000,000 people, says: "The luxury displayed at 
receptions, dinners, and dances, surpasses European imagination. At a ball given in 
New York, in the month of February, 1888, the walls were covered with roses, which 
did not cost less than $10,000. 

||Columbus, believing that he had reached the islands lying off the coast of India, 
called the country "The West India," and the natives "Indians." 

^Ponce de Leon was born in Spain in 1460, and belonged to an ancient family. In 
consequence of his conquering the island of Porta Rica, in 1509, he was appointed its 
governor. He ruled it with great rigor until his removal, which was occasioned by 
political influences of the Columbus family. 



SPANISH EXPLORERS AND EXPLORATIONS. 6i 

The banks being covered with beautiful foliage, intermingled with 
variegated flowers, he called the country "Florida," and took possession 
of the peninsula, in the name of his sovereign. 

After returning to Spain in 15 13, he was appointed governor of 
Florida, and while trying to colonize it, was wounded by one of the 
natives, from the effects bf which wound he died, in Cuba, in 1521. 

Vasco Nunez de Balboa, the son of a reduced nobleman at Xeres- 
de-Caballeros, took part in the great mercantile expedition of Rodrigo de 
Bastidas to the new world. After establishing himself at St. Domingo, 
he began cultivating the soil, but was so pressed by creditors that he 
had himseh smuggled on board a ship, in a cask, and joined the expedi- 
tion to the Isthmus of Darien in 15 10, which was commanded by 
Francisco de Encisco. 

An insurrection soon broke out which placed Balboa in supreme 
command of the new colony. In 15 13, he set out in quest of a western 
ocean, and on September 25th, from a mountain top in the Isthmus 
of Panama, obtained the first sight of the Pacific ocean. The enthusiasm 
of this discovery was shared by all the learned men of that day. 

Pedrarias de Vila, through the intrigues of the Spanish court, suc- 
ceeded in being appointed governor of the territory conquered by Bal- 
boa, notwithstanding the fact that Balboa had married the daughter 
of de Vila. Balboa, in the year 15 17, through the cruel jealousy of his 
father-in-law, and in violation of all forms of justice, was beheaded at 
Santa Maria. 

The history of the early Spanish conquerors in America is so 
fraught with the daring, dashing glory of their enterprises, tliat we 
shudder when we think of their application of the maxim that "the end 
justifies the means." 

Hernando Cortes, the daring conqueror of Mexico, was born in 
1485, at Medellin, a village of Estremadura, in Spain. He was edu- 
cated for the law, but adopted the profession of arms, and in 15 11, he 
distinguished himself under Diego Velasquez, in the expedition against 
Cuba. This established his reputation, so that, in 1518, the conquest 
of Mexico was entrusted to him by Velasquez, then governor of Cuba. 
The commission was no sooner granted than the versatile governor tried 
to revoke it, being jealous of his dashing and sagacious lieutenant. 
Cortes, however, in defiance of the governor, remained in command. A 
greater enterprise was never Undertaken, with so little regard for the 
great difficulties and dangers to be encountered. Cortes' whole force 
only amounted to about 700 men, which included thirteen muscatiers, 
with ten field pieces, and two or three small cannon. This was all the 
means placed at Cortes' disposal, to effect the conquest of the exten- 
sive empire of Mexico. 

Early in the year 1519, he landed on the shores of Mexico, and, 
shortly after, sailed up the Tabasco river, and captured the town of 



62 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

Tabasco. The gallant commander and his forces caused great terror to 
the Tabascians, who made liberal presents to their conquerors and vol- 
unteered full information about Mexico and her power. 

After arriving off the coast of San Juan de Ulloa, Cortes was visited 
by many of the leading Mexican chiefs, with whom he entered into 
negotiations regarding a visit to Montezuma, the absolute ruler of 
Mexico. 

The sagacious Montezuma sent rich presents to Cortes, but 
declined to invite the conqueror to visit the capital. Cortes, however, 
had resolved on visiting the emperor in his palace, and was undaunted 
by all opposition. After having founded the town of Vera Cruz, he 
burned his ships, so that his troops could not return, thereby giving 
them the only alternative — to conquer or die. Cortes, with his then 
reduced force of 400 Spaniards on foot, and fifteen horse, with a number 
of Indian followers, led by the treacherous chiefs, friendly to Monte- 
zuma, marched upon the capital. He overcame the Tlascalans on the 
way, and made them his firm allies. At Chalula, by order of Monte- 
zuma, a treacherous attempt was made to massacre Cortes' troops, 
which caused fearful vengennce to be wrecked on the city of Chalula. 
He reached the city of Mexico on the 8th of November, and was 
received with great pomp, by Montezuma in person. 

The Spaniards, upon their arrival at the city of Mexico, were 
regarded as the descendants of the sun, which, according to Mexican 
prophecies, were to come from the east and subvert the Aztec empire.* 
This traditionary superstition was worth to Cortes an arm}' of soldiers. 
One of Montezuma's generals caused an attack to be made on Cortes' 
colony at Vera Cruz, which resulted in the seizure of the emperor, by 
the intrepid Cortes, who had him conveyed to the Spanish quarters and 
forced him to surrender the offending general and three other officers, 
whom he caused to be burned in front of the emperor's palace. 

Under the iron hand of Cortes, the entire empire was soon ceded to 
Spain. The capital city at that time contained, it is estimated, 300,000 
inhabitants. In the meantime, Velasquez, jealous of the success of 
Cortes, sent an arm}' of about 1000 men with artillery, and well 
provided, to compel the surrender of Cortes. The undaunted Cortes 
was equal to the emergency, however, as history shows that he unex- 
pectedly met and overpowered the force sent against him, and secured 
their permanent allegiance. 

During these disturbances, the Mexicans at the capital arose and 
drove out the Spanish forces with great loss. At this time the Emperor 
Montezuma, who was kept a prisoner, appeared on a terrace, for the 

*According to the Aztec mythology, which was handed down by their predecessors, 
(the Tallies,) their god Taotal, believed in pure sacrifices. Taotal had once reigned in 
Anahuac, but for some unknown reason, retired from earth, by way of the Mexican Gulf, 
promising to return. This tradation accelerated the success of Cortes, as the Mexicans 
believed that their god had returned. 



SPANISH EXPLORERS AND EXPLORATIONS. 63 

purpose of pacifying his people, and was accidentally wounded with a 
stone, from the effects of which he died a few days later. 

Cortes retired to Tlascala, and, after recruiting and reinforcing his 
army, subdued all the Mexican valley, and soon marched against the 
city of Mexico, which he recaptured, August i6th, 1521, after a siege of 
four months. Language cannot depict the horrors of the murderous 
assault of the two days following the capture of the city. In 1639, 
Cortes was divested of his civil rank. Undaunted and determined, 
the irrepressible conqueror, at his own expense, fitted out several expe- 
ditions, one of which discovered California. 

Cortes died at Seville, in December, 1547,* after having been for 
several years coldly received at the Spanish court. History thus repeats 
itself, "Court favors are of short duration." 

Pineda, in 1519, traversed the coast of the northern shore of the Gulf 
of Mexico, as far as Panuco, in Mexico, and it is alleged, discovered the 
Mississippi river, which was called the "River of the Holy Spirit." 
The next year Ayllon landed upon the coast of Georgia and South Car- 
olina, and five years later he explored as far as Virginia, where he 
planted an ill-fated settlement, on the present site of Jamestown."}" 

Pamfilo de Narvaez, a contemporary of the great explorer, sailed 
for the West India, shortly after the discovery of Columbus. In 1501, 
he participated in the conquest of Santa Domingo, Jamaica, and Cuba, 
and was second to Velasquez, the governor in command of the Spanish 
forces. The tyrannical Velasquez, in 1520, sent him on an expedition 
to Mexico, to bring Cortes to submission, and with orders to arrest Cortes, 
and to succeed him as governor of that country. At Zempoalla, Cortes 
surprised and took him prisoner, after Narvaez had lost an eye in the 
battle. He was imprisoned by Cortes for five years, while the balance 
of the arm}' joined Cortes, and took part in the battles which resulted in 
the conquest of Mexico. After his liberation, Narvaez returned to 
Spain, and succeeded in obtaining an extensive tract of land in Florida. 
He arrived at Tampa Bay in 1528, with a force of 400 men, and pro- 
ceeded to Appalachicola, with the intention of settling in Florida, but 
was everywhere met by hostile natives. After numerous adversities, he 
again reached the seacoast, arid, while attempting to go to Mexico in 
boats, he was drowned, by the sinking of his boats, near the mouth of 
the Mississippi river. All of his companions, except four, perished 
before reaching Sonora. 

Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca was one of the lieutenants of De 
Narvaez, who conducted the unfortunate expedition, and lost his life 
while crossing the Gulf Stream out at sea, and was one of the few who 
survived the perils of the deep and the horrors of the land and lived to 
tell, in after years, one of the most remarkable tales ever chronicled in 
American history. In those days, long since past and gone, Henry 

*Prescott's Conquest of Mexico. 

fThe Old Northwest. (By Prof. Hinsdale) Page 6. 



64 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

VIII. was king of England, and sixteen rulers have since occupied that 
throne. 

Cabeza de Vaca was the descendant of an honorable family in Spain, 
whose honors were earned at the battle of Narvaez de Talosa, in the 
13th century, one of the greatest battles won in those days against the 
Moors. De Vaca's grandfather was the conqueror of the Canary Islands. 

De Vaca sailed from Spain as treasurer and sheriff of the expedition 
of 600 men, under De Narvaez, the intended conquerer and colonizer 
of the "Flowery Land," already discovered by Ponce de Leon. 
The expedition reached Santa Domingo and thence sailed to Cuba. It 
was on Good Friday, in the year 1528, some ten months after leaving 
Spain, when they reached Florida, and landed at a place now called 
Tampa Bay. 

After taking formal possession of the country for Spain, they set 
out to explore the vast unknown wilderness. While at Santa Domingo, 
shipwreck and desertion had reduced the original 600 men to only 345. 
The most fearful misfortunes met them on every hand. After reaching 
Florida, each day brought new misfortunes. Food was scarce, and the 
hostile Indians beset them on every hand; while the numberless lakes, 
rivers, and almost impregnable swamps, made progress both difficult 
and dangerous. They finally became so enfeebled that they could not 
get back to their vessels. They, at last, struggled through and reached 
the coast, far west of Tampa Bay. Here they decided to build boats 
and coast to the Spanish settlements in Mexico. After great toil, five 
rude boats were made, and they turned westward along the coast of the 
Gulf. Storms scattered their boats and wrecked them, one after another. 



nV^J 



^•^.isfrS- 




Drowning of Narvaez in the Mouth of the Mississippi. 

Many of the despairing and haggard adventurers were drowned 
while crossing the Gulf stream, Narvaez among them, while scores were 
cast upon the inhospitable shores and perished by exposure and starva- 
tion. Of the five boats, three had gone down with all on board; and of 
the eighty men who escaped shipwreck, but fifteen were now alive. 



SPANISH EXPLORERS AND EXPLORATIONS. 65 

while their arms and clothing were at the bottom of the Gulf. At this 
time, the survivors were on Mai Hado, "The Isle of Misfortune." 
which was west of the mouth of the Mississippi. 

The Indians on the island, who lived on roots, berries and fish, 
treated their starving guests as generously as possible. In the spring, 
Vaca's thirteen companions determined to escape. Vaca being too sick 
to walk, he, together with two other sick men, Oviedo and Alaniz, were 
abandoned and left behind by the deserters. Alaniz soon perished, and 
Oviedo fled from some danger, and was never more heard of, while 
Vaca, a naked skeleton, scarcely able to stand, faced the dangers alone. 
It is recorded that his sufferings were almost unendurable, for when he 
was not the victim of cruel treatment by the savages, he was looked 
upon as a worthless incumbrance and an interloper among them. The 
deserters fared even worse than Vaca. They had fallen into cruel hands 
and all had been slain, except Andres Darantes, Alonzo del Castello 
Maldonado, and the negro, Esterinco. These three naked slaves, and 
the skeleton Vaca, were now the only survivors of the 600, who had left 
their homes in Spain, in 1527, to conquer the new world, and even they 
were separated for seven long years, though occasionally hearing from 
each other. Then they finally met and were united again in Texas, 
west of the Sabine river. 

While the fifteen Spaniards were on the Isle of Mai Hado, the 
Indians v^ished to make them doctors and to cure sickness by blowing 
upon the sick ones, and with their hands remove the disease, and bade 
them to do so on some of the sick ones. The Spaniards laughed at this, 
thinking it an Indian joke, but the Indians were in earnest, for they took 
away their food, and informed them that the stones and the herbs in the 
field had power to heal, and that they must necessarily have greater 
power. This hint gave Vaca the key and passport to safety. This 
strange and interesting clew eventually saved the trio of despairing 
Spaniards; without this all would have perished in the wilderness, and 
the world would never have known the result of that Spanish expedi- 
tion. After Vaca's desertion by his last surviving companion, he began 
to wander about. His captors were indifferent and paid little attention 
to him, as he could not serve as a warrior, on account of his physical 
condition, and as a hunter he was equally unavailable. B}' degrees he 
began making long trips northv.ard and down the coast. In time he 
saw a chance for trading, in which the Indians encouraged him. From 
the northern tribes he brought down skins and face-paint, flakes of flint, 
for arrow heads, and reeds for shafts. These he exchanged among the 
coast tribes for shells, beads and other traffic, which were in demand 
among the northern tribes. On- account of the constant wars raging 
between the various Indian tribes, they dared not venture beyond their 
limits. Vaca thus became the first American trader. These lonelv 
trading expeditions were carried on b\' thousands of miles of travel on 



66 



HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 



foot through the trackless wilderness. Vaca was the first European 
who saw the American bison — the buffalo — which then roamed the plains 
in vast herds. He left a record for the generations of the "hunch-back 
cow," whose meat he ate in the Red River country of Texas. Vaca 
was, not only the first great American traveler and trader, but also the 
first learned doctor and wizard, as he became, through long practice, 
skilled in the art of healing the sick. 

When, at last, the four wanderers came together, after their long 
separation, during which time they had suffered untold horrors, it took 
ten months to escape from their captors. They had no clothing, and as 
there was no shelter, their constant exposure to the heat and cold soon 
caused them, says Vaca, "to shed their skins like snakes." 

In August, 1535, the Spanish trio escaped to an Indian tribe, called 
the Avavares. Vaca now initiated his companions in the arts of Indian 
medicine-men, and the four began to practice their strange profession. 
Thus, from tribe to tribe, they slowly wended their way, across Texas 
to the vicinity of New Mexico, and as far north as Santa Fe. With 
each new tribe, they tarried awhile and healed the sick. In the Mexican 
states, they found Indians who dwelt in houses of sod and boughs, and 
raised beans and pumpkins. These were the Jovas, a branch of the 
Pimas, who long since disappeared from the face of the earth. 




De Vaca and Companions, on their March. 



In the Sierra Madre, they found a race of superior Indians, whom 
they found unclad, except the women, who wore tunics with short 
sleeves and a skirt to the knee, with an overskirt of dressed deerskin, 
reaching to the ground. These people presented to de Vaca some 
turquoises and five arrow-heads, each tipped with a single emerald. 



SPANISH EXPLORERS AND EXPLORATIONS. 67 

A tla3''s march beyond the village in southwestern Sonora, the}^ met 
an Indiaii; wearing upon liis neck symbols of civilization — the buckle of a 
sword-belt, and a horse-shoe nail. This was the first sign of civilization 
that had been seen in their eight years wanderings. The Indian told 
them of men with beards like themselves who had come from the sky 
antl made war upon tlieir people. They now entered Senaloa, and 
found tlicmsclves in the land of flowers and streams. The Indians were 
in mortal fear of two Spanish brutes, who were in the vicinity, and were 
trying to capture slaves. They had just left, but Vaca and Esteranico, 
with eleven Indians, hurriedly followed their trail, and the next day over- 
took four Spaniards, who conducted tiiem to their rascally captain, 
Diego Alcuraz. The Spanish captain sent back for Dorantes and Cas- 
tillo, who arrived five days later, accompanied by several hundred Indians. 
After resting a short period they again journeyed forth, and after a few 
daNS hard travel they reached Culioscan, on May ist, 1536, and were 
warmly received by Melchior Daiz. After a short rest, the wanderers 
made a journey of 300 miles through a land swarming with hostile 
savages, and, at last, reached the city of Mexico in safety, where they 
were received with great honor. 

Cabeza de Vaca, Castillo and Dorantes sailed for Spain on April 
loth, 1537, and arrived in August. Esteranico, the negro, remained in 
Mexico. The report of Vaca and his companions caused the fitting out 
of the expedition which resulted in the discovery of Arizona, New 
Mexico, Indian Territory, Kansas, and Colorado, and established the 
nucleus of the first European towns in the United States. 

The Spanish government rewarded de Vaca by making him gov- 
ernor of Paragua}' in 1540, but on account of inefficiency he was after- 
wards recalled and given a pension of 2,000 ducats. He died at Seville, 
many years later. 

Ferdinand de Soto, one of our early Spanish explorers, and the 
discoverer of the Mississippi river, was born in Spain, in 1496. In his 
youth he was a distinguished literary student, and remarkably skilled in 
athletic exercises. He accompanied the tyrannical Pedrasias Davila, in 
1519, to the Isthmus of Darien, and was a daring and independent 
opponent of that officer's tyrannical rule, while governor of Darien. In 
1528, he left Davila's service and explored the coast of Giiatamala and 
Yucatan, in search of a water communication supposed to exist between 
the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. He was with the celebrated butcher 
Pizarro,* in 1532, in the expedition for the conquest of Peru, and used 
his influence with that great robber of temples to prevent the slaughter 
of the Peruvian king. 

Having quickly amassed a fortune in Peru, de Soto returned to 
Spain and married the daughter of Davila. Shortly after his marriage, 

*Pizarro's death was in accordance with his life. In Peru, he lived the life of an 
assassin, by virtue cf conquest. On June 26th, 1541, he expiated his crimes at the 
hands cf assassins, who were incited by his own deeds of blood. 



SPANISH EXPLORERS AND EXPLORATIONS. 69 

Diego Columbus (son of Christopher Columbus) relinquished his right 
to the crown, to appoint a governor of Cuba. De Soto being in favor 
at the Spanish court, was immediately appointed, under the title of 
governor-general. 

De Soto's love for travel and adventure, stimulated by the reports 
of the mythical El Dorado in North America, prompted him to under- 
take the conquest of Florida. He sailed in April, 1538, with twenty 
officers, twenty-four priests and six hundred men, and landed at Tampa 
Bay on May 25th, 1539, and in July his ships were sent back to Havana. 
The next year, he moved slowly westward and, from time to time, had 
serious and disastrous conflicts with the Indians. His second winter 
was spent in the great Chickasaw country, where his camp, together 
with forty of his followers, was burned by the Lidians, because he 
attempted to impress them into service, as luggage carriers. After 
marching several days, through almost impregnable swamps, de Soto 
and his expedition reached the Mississippi in June, 1541, and were the 
first white men to gaze upon the water of that mighty river. Here they 
constructed rude barges, crossed the river and traveled to the White 
river, which was the west limit of the exploration. From the White 
river they traveled south past the Hot Springs of Arkansas, and win- 
tered on the Washita river. 

The following spring, de Soto moved his expedition down the 
Washita to the Mississippi, where he was taken sick with fever, and 
died, either in May or June, 1542. 

"His soldiers pronounced his eulogy, by grieving for their loss. 
The priests chanted over his body the first requiems that were ever 
heard on the waters of the Mississippi. To conceal his death, his body 
was wrapped in a mantle, and, in the stillness of midnight, was silently 
sunk in the middle of the stream. The wanderer had crossed a large 
part of the continent, in his search for gold, and found nothing so 
remarkable as his burial place."* 

The now greatly reduced expedition found its way down the Miss- 
issippi to the Gulf, and finally succeeded in reaching their countrymen in 
Mexico. t 

De Soto's faithful wife, who had patiently waited his return to 
Havana, died upon the third day after hearing of her husband's unfor- 
tunate death. 

At the time de Soto's expedition was in the region south of the 
Missouri, another expedition, headed by Corondo|, came overland from 
Mexico, and was searching in the same vicinity for the fabled "Seven 
Cities of Cibola." 

These two visionary commanders were within a few days travel of 

*Bancroft's History. Vol. I., 50. (Sixth \'olume Edition.) 
f Hinsdale's Old Northwest, 7. 
+ Hinsdale's01d Northwest, 7. 



70 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

each other, so close in fact, that Corondo heard of de Soto's party, and 
sent him a letter which failed to reach him. 

In those days of Spanish explorations, the only form of wealth 
known to them was the precious metals, and they, being unable to find 
those in Florida and the adjacent country, again centered their attentions 
on Mexico, where they had already found them in such great and 
surprising abundance. 

After the death of de Soto, Spain became so indifferent to her rights 
that she allowed the Mississippi to slip from her grasp, and go into the 
hands of the ^French, without hardly a struggle, and only awoke, a 
century later, to realize her loss and mistake. 

While the Spanish laid claim to the whole country, from the Gulf 
to Canada, her greatest stronghold was peninsula Florida. 

Menendez de Aviles, on St. Augustine's day, August 28th, 1565, 
arrived in Florida, and built a fort, which became the nucleus of the 
present city of St. Augustine, f One hundred and ninety-eight years 
later — 1763, Spain surrendered the key of the Gulf and the India Seas, 
as the price of the Queen of the Antilles. 

+ St. Augustine was defended with great difficulty against the Indians, the French 
and Indian adventurers, but was captured and pillaged by Sir Francis Drake, in 1586, 
and by the pirates in 1665. 

The city was built after the old Spanish style, the widest streets being only from 
12 to 15 feet across. The original dwellings were constructed of a conglomerate of 
shells and shell-lime, from Anastasia Island. 

In the center of the city, where now stands the Plaza de la Constitution, once stood 
the residence, custom-house and slave market of the Spanish governors. 

Old Fort San Marco, which was finished in 1756, after nearly a century's labor, 
still stands, and is an object of historical interest. Also, the Ponce de Leon Hotel 
which was built of coquina, in the Moorish style, and covers four acres. 



Chapter XVI. 

FRENCH EXPLORERS AND EXPLORATIONS. 

1634— 1763. 

Object of French Exploration. — Explorations of Verazzano. — Cartier. — Champlain. — ■ 
Nicollet. — Radisson and Groseilliers. — Menard. — Allouez. — Joliet. — Marquette. — 
La Salle. 

While the great incentive to the Spanish explorations was gold, 
the main motive of the French explorations in America was (i) religious 
zeal, and (2) love for gold and adventure, through that great channel 
known as the fur trade. 

The first French explorer of North America was Giovanni de Veraz- 
zano, * an Italian of noble birth, who was commissioned by Francis I., 
king of France, to make a voyage of discovery to North America. In 
1524, he set sail, and went by way of Madeira, in command of the frigate 
Dolphin, and after meeting much stormy weather reached the coast of 
America, and sailed along its coast from the 34° of latitude to Newfound- 
land. He discovered the continent at Cape Fear, or New Jersey, and is 
thought to have discovered New York bay. The genuineness of a letter 
written to Francis I., giving an elaborate account of his discoveries, has 
frequently been questioned. 

The next French explorer of America was Jacques Cartier, | who 
was sent out by the king of France on a tour of discovery. He sailed 
from St. Malo, in 1534, ^'^ command of two ships, to explore the nortli- 
east coast of America. He first landed at Cape Buena Vista, Newfound- 
land, then passed up the straits of Belle Isle, and discovered the main- 
land of Canada, which he claimed in the name of the king of France. 
The next year, with another expedition, he discovered the St. Lawrence 
river, and explored its banks as far as Stradeconna, the Indian name of 
Quebec. Cartier, believing that this river was the long-sought passage 
to Cathay, left his ships, and with two or three companions, sailed up 
the St. Lawrence to Hochelaga, a large fortified Indian village at the 
foot of Mount Royal, where Montreal is now situated. The unusual 
severity of the climate during the first winter, together with the sickness 
of his men, caused him to sail back to France in 1536, and nothing was 
further done towards the colonization of America until 1540, at which 
time Jean Francis La Roche obtained leave to form a settlement in 
Canada. Cartier was again sent out, in 1541, by the king, in command 
of five ships. After landing at Quebec, he built Fort Charlesbourg, and 
took formal possession of Canada, in the name of his royal master, and 

*Verazzano was born in Italy, in 1480, and is said to have been put to death in 
Spain for piracy, in 1527. 

fjacques Cartier was born in Brittany, 1494. As late as 1552, he lived at Limoilin, 
his native village, as seigneur. 



FRENCH EXPLORERS AND EXPLORATIONS. 73 

raised a cross, surmounted by the fleur-de-lis, upon which was blazoned 
the legend, Fra?iciscus Primus Dei Gracia Francorum Rex re^^nat. 

Cartier's attempt to colonize Canada proved futile, on account of his 
having carried away an Indian chief during his previous voyage. 

Samuel de Champlain, the suave French explorer, was born in 1567, 
and served in the army ot Henry IV., of France, while a young man; 
then accompanied the fleet of the Spanish to the West Indies. In 1603 
he was sent to Canada, by De Chaste,* upon whom had been bestowed 
some of the new territory. Stopping at Hochelaga, on the St. Lawrence, 
he, like Cartier, was filled with admiration for this beautiful country, 
and became at once convinced that the beautiful valley of the St. Law- 
rence must be the seat of the future French-American empire. This 
land contained all that the enthusiastic Frenchman desired, as the 
forests and waters abounded in the valuable furs which, next to gold 
and silver, were the prime objects of the early American explorers* 
while the great river of the unknown regions, it was believed, would lead 
to the lands of Marco Polo. He returned to France, with the determi- 
nation' to plant, in Canada, a colony that would reflect glory upon his 
country, and extend the dominions of the Catholic church. 

From 1604 to 1607, Champlain was engaged in exploring the gulf and 
coasts of the St. Lawrence, and the adjacent waterways, seeking a 
desirable spot for his permanent settlement. In 1608, after his third 
voyage to Canada, he established a settlement at Quebec, which, after 
many misfortunes and struggles, became both permanent and pros- 
perous. The next year, this intrepid explorer and his hardy companions 
plunged into the wilderness of northern New York, where, near Lake 
Champlain, they met a party of Mohawk Indians, which they attacked 
and principally destroyed. Champlain, however, was much impressed 
by the courage they displayed, as well as the formidable confederation 
to which they belonged. 

It was fortunate that Champlain concluded not to invade the seats of 
the Iroquois, as he had first determined, but to more permanently lay 
the foundation of New France, farther northward. The establishment 
of New France, through the strenuous efforts of Champlain, fully 
entitled him ever to be known as " the Father of New France." 

In 1629, the settlement at Quebec was captured by English adven- 
turers, and Champlain taken to London as a prisoner, but was liberated 
in 1632, and shortly after returned to Quebec. It was on Christmas 
day, 1635, that this daring explorer, who had the honor of being the first 
governor of New France, died at Quebec, and in his death the spirit of 
the colony appeared for a time to depart. The Iroquois, the insatiate 
enemies of Champlain, took advantage of Champlain' s death, and 
wreaked their vengeance on the French settlers, and their allies, the 
Algonquin tribes. The Dutch traders at Albany, ever jealous of the 

*According to Prof. Hinsdale, he came to Canada with Pontgreve. 



74 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

French traders, supplied the Five Nations with firearms and ammuni- 
tion, and it was not long ere man}' of the Indians were a match for the 
best shots in Canada.* The French settlers were driven within their 
gates, while their allies, the Algonquins, were driven as far west as the 
Wisconsin river. 

The first actual explorer of the territory now known as Wisconsin 
was Jean Nicollet, who was born at Cherbourg, in Normandy, and while 
a young man emigrated to Canada in 1618. At this time the celebrated 
Champlain, entertaining ambitious schemes of exploration, and desir- 
ing to rival even Columbus, was in the habit of occasionally sending 
young men among the Indian tribes, to learn their languages and cus- 
toms, to be serviceable to him as interpreters and explorers. Nicollet 
was thus selected by Champlain, shortly after his arrival at Quebec, and 
was dispatched to the Algonquins, on the Ottawa; and next to the 
Nipissings, on Lake Nipissing. After years of intimate association with 
the various Indian tribes, he was employed as interpreter at Three 
Rivers, where he soon gained an enviable reputation as an adroit man- 
ager of the red men, who assembled there from the adjacent country 
for the purpose of trade and council. In 1634, he was dispatched by 
the governor of New France to secure the good will of the Indian tribes 
upon the shores of Winnepegou,* and other lakes of the northwest. 

Nicollet, in company with Fathers Brebeuf, Daniel, and DaVost, 
Jesuit priests who were journeying towards the Huron country, to estab- 
lish the mission which was afterwards abandoned by the Recolletts, 
journeyed, with his priestly companions, as far as Isle des Allumetts. 
At this island he parted company with his comrades, and proceeded by 
way of Lake Nipissing to Georgian Bay, where he spent some time 
among the Hurons, and secured seven of their tribe to accompany him 
upon his voyage of discover}^ to the northwest. 

Nicollet's training, among the hardships of the uncivilized savages, 
made him a semi-savage, and more than equal in endurance to any of 
his hardy companions, and qualified him for that arduous journey. 
Through storm and calm they pursued their perilous voyage, picking 
up their food as Indian hunters do from time to time, until finally the 
shore lines led them through the north channel to the outlet of Lake 
Superior, and thence to the Straits of St. Mary. 

At the site of the present city of Sault Ste. Marie, they found a 
large and prosperous village of Algonquins. Nicollet and his party 
landed here, and were the first white men to set foot upon the soil of 
that part of the country which, one hundred and fifty years later, 
became the Northwest Territory. Nicollet did not discover Lake 
Superior, which was within a few hours' walk of the Indian village; as 
so notable a discovery would have been placed to his credit by his man}' 
Jesuit admirers. After stopping at the Falls of St. Anthony a sufficient 

^Winnebago. 



FRENCH EXPLORERS AND EXPLORATIONS. 75 

length of time to recruit his men, they commenced their long and 
arduous journey, and finally entered the Straits of Mackinaw, and, 
descending that famous highway, they gazed with rapture upon the 
inexhaustible waters of Lake Michigan, and were honored by being its 
first white discoverers. Skirting the northern shore of this great inland 
sea, camping upon the edges of the solemn forests which framed it, 
alternately waiting the passage of storms and to refresh themselves, 
this brave explorer and his hardy followers finally rounded Point 
Detour, and beached their frail crafts on the shores of Bay de Noquet, 
the northern arm of Green Bay. Here they found another Algonquin 
tribe, with whom they smoked the pipe of peace, and obtained valuable 
information from them of the far-be\ond country. 

They next stopped at the mouth of the Menomonie river, which forms 
a boundary line between Wisconsin and upper Michigan, which at that 
time, was principally peopled by Algonquins. Here our explorer and 
his friends tarried long enough to hold a council with the Indians, and 
to dispatch one of their Huron runners to herald their approach to the 
Winnebagoes, established at the mouth of the Fox river.* The west- 
ern shores were low and irregular, and densely wooded with pine and 
tamarack, which present a somber and depressing appearance, while 
the eastern banks were high, presenting rugged headlands and abrupt 
slopes covered with dense hard and soft woods. The summit of the 
picturesque clay cliff at Red Banks was crowned, for several miles back 
in the countr}^, with innumerable and interesting mounds. It was here, 
according to the Winnebago tradition, that the Adam and Eve of the 
Indian race first lived. f 

Nicollet, after waiting for favorable weather, pursued his course 
through the enormous marshes of wild rice which made the mouth of 
the Fox river almost impassable, and there landed. In these days the 
China sea was generally supposed to be in the neighborhood of the 
great lakes, as yet there being no knowledge of the immense width of 
the great American continent. Nicollet had heard from the Nipissings 
"that at Green Bay he would meet with a strange people, who had come 
from beyond a great water, lying to the west." 

Nicollet's mind had been prepared to find, at that point, a large 
colony of Chinamen or Japanese, or to discover the Orient itself. 
Nicollet's canoe had been run into a cove below the mouth of the Fox, 
while he attired himself in a gorgeous damask gown, beautifully 
decorated with gaily-colored birds and flowers, an oriental garment 
which he had taken care to provide himself with at Quebec, with the 
anticipation that he would meet mandarins who would be dressed in a 
similar manner. Nicollet, thus attired, stepped upon the shore, a short 
distance up the river, and in this picturesque manner Wisconsin was 

*Thwaites' Story of Wisconsin, 27. 
fibid., 28. 




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FRENCH EXPLORERS AND EXPLORATIONS. 77 

introduced to its first white explorer. The rustling skirts of his 
oriental robe swept the ground as he boldly advanced among the nearly- 
naked Winnebagoes, and discharged the pistols which he held in either 
liand. The warriors were greatly startled at this singular apparition, 
but hailed him as Manitou, or wonderful man; while the women and 
children fled in terror from the presence of the great Manitou, who 
carried with him both lightning and thunder. 

The polite Frenchman smothered his chagrin beneath a smile, and 
after doffing his oriental costume, met the Winnebagoes in friendly 
council. The news of his arrival quickly spread to the surrounding 
villages, and there soon gathered four thousand or five thousand Indians, 
who gave great feasts in honor of their noted guest. After the breaking 
up of the councils he left the Winnebagoes at the mouth of the Fox, and 
pursued his way up that river. He made portages around the Falls, 
Deperes, the Kakalins, Appleton, and Menasha. This picturesque 
vineclad river is now lined with prosperous cities and towns, where, in 
those days, lived only half-naked savages. In those days, populous 
Indian villages were at the rapids, and on Doty's island, and at the 
outlet of Winnebago, while upon the tablelands on either side, were 
immense fields of maize, which furnished their caches with an abundant 
supply for winter use, as well as for traffic with the neighboring tribes. 

Nicollet and his companions soon emerged upon the broad expanse 
of Lake Winnebago, and cautiously wended their way until they reached 
the point where the upper Fox enters into the lake, where now is situ- 
ated the prosperous city of Oshkosh, This site was afterwards a famous 
camping- ground for French voyageurs, both before and after the estab- 
lishment of the "jack-knife" trading posts upon the innumerable water- 
ways of Wisconsin. From this point he pushed on in search of the 
Fire nation, whose camp was located thirty miles to the southwest, up 
the Fox.* 

Through this marshy, serpentine course Nicollet pushed on, fre- 
quentl)'^ losing his way, until he at last arrived at a point above where 
Omro now lies, and from thence near the site of the present city of Berlin, 
where, upon a beach of clay, Nicollet stranded his canoe. Two miles 
farther to the south, upon an eminence, lay the palisaded town of the 
Mascoutins, or Fire nation, the object of his search. Three days' 
journey from this Indian village was the portage which separates the 
waters of the Fox from the Wisconsin. Had Nicollet dreamed of his 
nearness to the portage, he would have had the honor of being the first 
white discoverer of the upper Mississippi. Having secured the good- 
will of the Mascoutins in the interest of the French, he took up his 

*According to Indian tradition, the Fox river was so named because of its winding 
path, which resembled ths course of a fox when pursued. Another tradition says, a 
monstrous snake lay down for the night in the swamp, between the Wisconsin portage 
and the lake of the Winnebagoes; the dew accumulated upon it at night, and, when 
morning came, it wriggled and shook itself, and disappeared down the river, thus 
leaving the river bed to mark its course. 



78 



HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 



way southward and visited the Indians of the IlHnois, and returned to 
Quebec the following year, by way of Lake Michigan. Jean Nicollet* 
journeyed over two thousand miles through the trackless wilderness of 
the great unknown northwest, and thus won for New France a name 
theretofore unknown in the great European conquest of the northwest. 




Nicollet Exploring the Wilderness. 



Twenty years passed after Nicollet's journey before another 
white man came to Wisconsin. Exploration was at a standstill, because 
of the Iroquois fury and their monopoly of the trade; but, in 1658, Rad- 
isson and his brother-in-law, Groseilliers, set out on a tour of explora- 
tion. For two hundred years very little was know of their travels. 
Radisson had written an account of his adventures for the king of 
England, and this manuscript, whose truth is universally believed, was 
finally published in 1885. 

These two men spent some time among the Hurons and Ottawas at 
the Manitoulin islands, then came to the Pottawatomies, living on the 
islands at the entrance of Green Bay. Here they spent the winter, and 
in the following spring proceeded to the villages of the Mascoutins, on 
the upper Fox river. These Indians were regarded with great admira- 
tion by Radisson, and he, in turn, was looked upon with delight, aston- 
ishment and awe; they even went so far as to carry Radisson in their 
canoes, up and down the watercourses of Wisconsin, whenever he 
desired, and, in the summer of 1659, he discovered the Mississippi 
river. It took four months to accomplish this end. Radisson describes 
their discovery as "a beautiful river, grand, wide, deep, and comparable to 

*In the year 1642, while attempting to deliver a companion who had fallen into 
the hands of the Indians, bis canoe was upset in a Canadian stream, and thus the 
noble and venturous explorer perished. Wis. Hist. Col., Vol. X., 282. 



FRENCH EXPLORERS AND EXPLORATIONS. 79 

our own great river, the St. Lawrence." Radisson was alone at the 
time of this discovery. His brother-in-law, Groseilliers, had remained 
with the Indians at their village, and helped them make corn. 

At this period there was no mission, not even another white man, 
except Groseilliers, west of the Alleghanies. With nothing but his own 
skill and bravery, he plunged his way into the very depths of the wilder- 
ness, and explored the Mississippi river, a thousand miles above the 
point Avhich De Soto reached. The next year, the two travelers came 
back to the St. Lawrence river. Li the summer of 1661, they both set 
out on a new exploration. They went to Lake Superior, and skirted 
along its southern shore until they reached Chequamegon Bay, where 
they built a stockaded fort, near the site of the present city of Ashland. 
From thence they proceeded in a southeasterly direction, until they 
came to a village of the Hurons.* These barbarous people received 
the explorers like demi-gods, or like people from another planet. 

The winter following was extraordinarily bitter. A terrible famine 
was the result. Their only food was the bark of trees or vines, and old 
beaver-skins. About five hundred men, women and children died from 
starvation. "We became the very image of death," writes Radisson. 
When spring came the famine ended. A party of Sioux Indians soon 
visited the travelers. These Indians lived in northwestern Wisconsin 
and northern Minnesota. After a short time, the explorers went to 
Minnesota, and visited the Sioux at their homes, and also the Christinos, 
living to the northwest of Lake Superior. Late in the summer of 1662, 
they returned to the St. Lawrence river, with sixty canoes loaded with 
furs, valued at 200,000 livres, their well-earned reward. 

Upon their arrival the mercenary governor of New France deter- 
mined to rob them, but, being warned, they secretly fled to Boston, and 
from there sailed to England. In 1667, they sailed for Hudson's Bay, 
and established trading-posts, for the purpose of drawing the fur trade 
of the northwest away from Canada. Thus they became the founders of 
the famous Hudson's Bay Company. After a little, some trouble arose 
between them and the officers of the Company, which prompted them to 
turn from their English allegiance and join the French service. In 1682, 
they again came to Hudson's Bay, seized an English ship, took all their 
former associates prisoners, and raised the f^ag of France over Port Nel- 
son. In the meantime Radisson' s wife had remained in England. 
Through the influence of the English ambassador at Paris the two 
Frenchmen were soon persuaded to reenter the English service. 

In 1684, they sailed for Hudson's Bay a third time, where, upon 

their arrival, they lowered the lilies of France and hoisted the English 

flag, which has ever since floated triumphantly over that portion of the 

continent. 

*According to Perrot, this Indian village was three days' journey from Chequamegon 
Bay, and situated near a little lake about eight leagues in circuit. (Hebberd's Wiscon- 
sin Under French Dominion.) 



FRENCH EXPLORERS AND EXPLORATIONS 8i 

This is tlie last we hear of this renowned and brave man. ' Few of 
the many whom history has made famous have done so much as Radisson. 

In August, 1660, Father Menard, notwithstanding tlie ruin of the 
Huron missions, set out for the west, and, after indescribable sufferings 
en route, finally reached an Ottawa settlement at Keweenaw Point, on 
Lake Superior. The Ottawas had been driven from their old home by 
the Iroquois, and were now in a state of unequaled wretchedness. Mis- 
ery had made them brutes of the lowest of the savage order.* They 
treated Father Menard most inhumanly. They mocked at his teachings 
and, in the depth of winter, they drove him from their cabins, where he 
was forced to make a shelter in the great forest out of pine boughs. 
Here, battling with the winter's blasts and half famished, living only 
upon acorns and the bark from trees, this feeble old man lived the life 
of a martyr until the next summer. The following June he started to 
establish a mission among the Hurons at the headwaters of the Chip- 
pewa. His guides had deserted him on the way, but he pushed on until 
he reached a point near the Huron village, where he is supposed to have 
perished in the wilderness, and thus gained a crown of martyrdom, he 
being Wisconsin's first missionary, and her first martyr. 







First Jesuit Chapel. 

Claude Jean AUouez, a Jesuit, was trained for work in establishing 
missions, among the Algonquins on the St. Lawrence river. In 1665, 
Allouez was sent to take Menard's place, at the headwaters of the 
Chippewa, but the Hurons and Ottawas had removed from the interior 
wilds to Chequamegon Bay. Allouez repaired to the new Indian settle- 
ment, built a rude bark chapel, and here established the first Jesuit 

*Radisson met them one year later in the wilds of northern Wisconsin, and charac- 
terized them as "the cursedest, unablest, the infamous and cowardliest people, that I 
have seen among four score nations, that I have frequented." 



82 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

mission in Wisconsin. This spot soon became the center for the 
nations of the west. The Hurons and the Ottawas had been attracted 
to this spot, at the head of the Chequamegon Ba}^ by the abundant 
supply of excellent fish, and the opportunities for traffic. Other tribes 
followed for the same purpose, vv'hile some were fugitives from the fury 
of the warlike Iroquois, who were then invading the whole northwest. 
Here were conglomerated Sacs, Pottawatomies, Foxes, and numerous 
tribes from eastern Wisconsin, as well as the tribes from the south, 
including the Illinois. 

Allouez, with the zeal and ardor of a Napoleon, labored with uncer- 
tain success, but his work was soon ended, as the Iroquois thirst for 
blood was curbed by the power of the French. The various tribes soon 
returned to their original hunting grounds, while the missionaries fol- 
lowed their flocks and the mission of Sti Esprit again became a solitude. 
This zealous priest erected a chapel of reeds, styled St. James, and 
there, on Assumption day, 1672, planted a cross and preached to a 
large audience, consisting of five distinct Indian tribes. Allouez' death 
occurred on the St. Joseph river, among the Miamis, in i6go. Much 
valuable Indian history was given to the world by this good priest, who 
passed his life in ministering to others. 

Louis Joliet, another early explorer, was born in 1645, at Quebec, 
and was educated at the Jesuit college for the priesthood. In 1672, he 
was appointed by Governor Frontenac as chief of the expedition to 
explore the Mississippi river. Joliet, accompanied by Marquette and 
five voyageurs, started from St. Ignace on May 17, 1673. The little 
party canoed the forest-bordered shore of upper Michigan, and, on June 
7th, they were at the Mascoutin village on the upper Fox. At this 
place they obtained guides, as the creek was narrow and wound its 
tortuous way through immense and almost-impregnable swamps, and, 
after days of arduous canoeing, they made the portage and found them- 
selves upon the bosom of the mighty Mississippi. It v/as with rapture 
that they gazed upon the beautiful scenery on either side of this mighty 
and broad stream. The celebrated canoeists passed down the Missis- 
sippi as far as the mouth of the Arkansas, and being satisfied from 
Indians whom they met that the river flowed into the Gulf of Mexico, 
and not into the Pacific ocean, and fearing to fall into the hands of the 
Spaniards, they returned to Green Bay, by way of the Illinois river, 
making the Chicago portage. Joliet hastened on to Montreal to report 
to Frontenac his great discoveries, and while in the Lachine rapids, his 
canoe was upset, and his maps and manuscripts lost. 

Upon his return to Quebec, this indefatigable explorer prepared a 
map, and made a report of the expedition from memory. As a mark 
of esteem, he was appointed royal hydrographer at Quebec, and, in 
1680, he received the grant of the seigneury of Anticosti Island. In 
1697, he was granted the royal favor to the seigneury of Joliette, which 
still belongs to the family. It has been erroneously stated, and gener- 



FRENCH EXPLORERS AND EXPLORATIONS. 83 

ally believed, that the leader of this great exploring expedition was Pere 
Marquette, but such is not the fact, however. Father Marquette was 
sent out on this expedition by the Jesuits in the interest of the Christian 
cause; while Louis Joliet was the leader of the expedition, and as such 
is entitled to the credit dne so worthy a leader. 

James Marquette came to Canada, as a Jesuit missionary, in 1666, 
and spent some time in the valley of the Three Rivers, learning the dif- 
ferent dialects of the Algonquin tribes. After a year and a half had been 
passed in this way, he was appointed to the Mohawk mission, but before 
setting out, his course was changed, and he was sent to Lake Superior, 
where he founded the mission of the Sault Ste. Marie, in 1668. Next, 
in 1669, he was sent among the Ottawas and Hurons. Here the mission 
was dispersed by the Sioux, and the Hurons fled to Mackinaw, where 
Marquette soon followed them, and established the mission of St. 
Ignatius. 

In 1673, when Joliet was commissioned by Frontenac, then gov- 
ernor, to explore the Mississippi, Father Marquette was directed by the 
Jesuits to accompany him. In May of the same year, they started from 
Mackinaw, in two canoes, with five French voyageurs, and proceeded 
to Green Bay. Next they reached the Fox river, and ascended it to the 
rapids, and there found a Miami village. Then they descended the 
Mississippi for a distance of three hundred miles, without seeing a 
human being. Now they noticed a trail on the eastern shore, and fol- 
lowing this they soon came upon an Illinois Indian settlement, where 
they were royally received. Next they proceeded to the mouth of the 
Ohio, where they met a party of Indians, who informed them that 
they were within ten days' journey of the sea, and that they had 
purchased goods from people that came from the east, and dressed 
as the explorers did. The travelers then resumed their journey, and 
found numerous and more-civilized Indians as they proceeded. Finally, 
having arrived at latitude 34'^, they stopped, fearing to go farther, lest 
they should fall into the hands of the Spaniards. After tarrying a short 
time they turned back and ascended the river. When they came to the 
Illinois river, instead of going up to the mouth of the Wisconsin, they 
went up the Illinois. From the head of this river, they were said to 
have made a portage to Lake Michigan at or near Chicago, and after a 
four months' absence, they arrived at Green Bay. 

On October 25, 1674, Father Marquette* again, with a few com- 

^Marquette's map is unquestionably the first ever published of the Mississippi river. 
The five great rivers, the Wisconsin, Illinois, Missouri, Ohio and Arkansas, are placed 
in their relative positions, and their general course delineated with a marked degree of 
accuracy. The Wisconsin by the French is written Mississing in the map, while in the 
narrative it is written Mescousin, and tVie Missouri is written Pekitanoni, the Ohio is 
called Ouabouquigon, and the Arkansas is not named on the map; but in the narrative 
mention is made of the village of Akamsca, near the bank of a river of that name. 

The Marquette map and the narrative was issued by Thevenot, in what was called 
Thevenot's Recueil. See Sparks' " Life of Marquette," also Smith's " History of Wis- 
consin," Vol. I., 306, 307. 



84 



HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 



panions, set out to form a mission settlement in Illinois. He and his- 
little party were obliged to carry their canoes through the forests from 
Green Bay to the shore of Lake Michigan, thence skirted the western 
shore of the lake to the Chicago river, where, because of illness, they 
were obliged to stop. Here they built a rude log hut and spent the 
winter. The following spring, their hut was inundated by an early 
freshet in the liver. Gathering together their possessions, they went on 
their way to the Illinois, which they made by the portage of the Des 
Plaines river, and finally arrived at the Indian town of Kaskaskia, where 
he says " he was received like an angel from heaven." After Easten 
with two companions, he went back to Lake Michigan, and explored its 
eastern shore as far north as what is known as Sleeping Bear Point, in 
Michigan. Then his strength failed. He grew sick and died on May 18, 
1675.* His party buried him, and took up their march to Michilimacki- 
nac. In 1676, a party of Ottawas dug up his bones, washed, dried, and 
carefully placed them in birch-bark, and forming a procession of thirty 
canoes, bore them with funeral chants to the mission of St. Ignace, where 
the relics were received with solemn ceremonies, and buried beneath 
the floor of the chapel. 




Funeral Procession of Father Marquette. 

Wisconsin, in honor of this good and great man, has placed his 
statue in the hall of the national capitol. 

Louis Hennepin accompanied La Salle in his exploration tour. On 
the 28th of February, 1680, Hennepin, with two companions, set out to 
explore the upper Mississippi, at the command of La Salle. They 

*On this day he requested his companions to leave him. Thev supposed he wished 
to be left alone with his prayers and acceded to his request; when they returned to hint' 
they found him dead. Wis. Hist. Col., Vol. X , 284 



FRENCH EXPLORERS AND EXPLORATIONS. 85 

ascended the Mississippi, passing the mouth of the Wisconsin, and were 
made prisoners by the Sioux below Lake Pepin, on the 12th of April. 
They were captives for two long months, when one day, their captors 
started on a buffalo hunt, took their prisoners as far as Rum river, sup- 
plied them with a small canoe and other necessities, and then set them 
loose. The}' continued their journey up the Mississippi, and soon beheld 
for the first time the great falls, which still bear the name Hennepin gave 
them — St. Anthony Falls. He, however, gave an exaggerated account 
of the height of the falls, claiming that they were from fifty to sixty feet 
high. From this the conclusion was drawn that Hennepin did not 
adhere strictl}' to the truth. He returned shortly after this to Europe, 
and died in obscurity. 

Robert Cavelier La Salle spent his early life in a school of the 
Roman church, where he became a Jesuit priest. When about twenty- 
three years of age, he withdrew from the service, and sailed for Canada, 
where he met an older brother, who was a priest at Montreal, in the 
seminary of St. Sulpice. This seminary was a religious corporation 
which had been given a feudal proprietorship of Montreal and its vicin- 
age. The superior, seeing in La Salle a youth of high character, 
granted him a tract of land, near where La Chane now stands, with 
seignorial rights. The young lord built a fort, laid out a village, sub- 
divided and leased lands in the form of that day, set apart a park or 
common, and cleared the land and erected buildings. He studied the 
Indian languages, and after a few years, was master of seven or eight 
different dialects. Trade with the Indians in furs had given La Salle a 
chance to make improvements upon his property, and to obtain a vague 
knowledge of the land in the interior. A party of Seneca Indians spent 
the winter at La Salle's fort, and told him of the great Ohio, rising in 
their country, but that the river was so long that it required eight or 
nine months to paddle to its mouth. La Salle determined to see the 
river, and obtained the consent of the governor, and procured letters- 
patent authorizing the exploration. This expedition was fitted out at 
his own expense. In order to be able to do this, he was obliged to sell 
his seignory and ail improvements. On July 6, i66g, with fourteen men 
and four canoes, he started up the St. Lawrence. Thirty days of 
arduous labor was required to pass the rapids, the Thousand Islands, 
and to reach Lake Ontario. Thence they skirted the shore south to 
the mouth of the Genesee, where they remained a month, obtaining 
information and seeking friendship among the Indians. Then coasting 
in a westerly direction as far as the mouth of the Niagara, plainly hear- 
ing the mighty roar of the distant cataract, they reached the west shore 
of Lake Ontario, where they found an Indian prisoner, who promised 
to lead them to the Ohio river in six weeks. He also met Joliet, 
returning from a vain search for copper-mines on Lake Superior, and 
from him procured a map of the lake country, which he had explored. 



86 



HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 



La Salle's movements from this point are not full, but it is known, how- 
ever, that he followed the Ohio down to the rapids of Louisville. There 
he learned from the natives that far beyond, this stream joined the bed 
of that great river which loses itself in the immense low regions of the 
south. Here his followers, in a body, deserted him. La Salle was 
forced to return alone to Canada, living upon such as he was able to 
procure, and upon the hospitality of the Indians. Perrot claims that 
lie met La Salle in the summer of 1670, hunting on the Ottawa river, 
with a party of Iroquois. This proves that he must have been in 
reduced circumstances, and that he was working to get the means to 
set out on another expedition. 

In 1671, we again find him on Lake Erie, which, with his com- 
panions, he skirted in canoes to the mouth of the Detroit river, thence 
to Lake Huron, Mackinaw and Lake Michigan. He explored the 
vicinity of Green Bay and the west shore of the lake southward, as far 
as Chicago, and made the portage to the Illinois river, either by way of 
Chicago or by way of the St. Joseph and the Kankakee on the east shore 
of the lake. He followed down the Illinois to the vicinity of the Miss- 
issippi, and is said to have made a map of its course and tributary 
streams. The map, claimed to have been made by La Salle, indicates 
that he made the Chicago portage, although his subsequent explorations, 
by way of St. Joseph and Kankakee portage, indicate that he did not so 
early make the portage of the Illinois, by way of Chicago. 




La Salle's Retinue Making Chicago Portage. 

In 1673, he was occupied in the fur trade, and the next year he laid 
before Governor Frontenac a project for the exploration of the Missis- 
sippi and its valley. Frontenac could promise no money, but the project 
embraced mercantile advantages, which induced him to use his influence 
to further the scheme. The main object of the project, however, it is 
believed was to build forts westward and south of Canada, and to hold 
the count;-}' for Louis XIV., and to prevent the fur trade from being 



FRENCH EXPLORERS AND EXPLORATIONS. 87 

diverted to the Dutch and English, at Albany and New York. The forts 
were to be made great centers for the fur trade, beyond the competition 
of the dealers at Montreal. Naturally the project met with great oppo- 
sition from the fur-traders at Montreal, as well as the directors of the 
Jesuits, but Frontenac's iron will knew no opposition. With the con- 
sent of his king, he managed secretly to have a fort built for La Salle, 
at a point where Kingston, Canada, now stands, and invited the Iroquois 
to attend a grand council which was there assembled. The able and 
energetic La Salle's scheme embraced the building of forts at Niagara, 
and on all of the upper lakes. 

Frontenac, in November, 1674, sent his friend La Salle to France, 
well recommended to the king, who received him at his court with great 
honor. To reimburse him in part as a daring and able explorer, he was 
made a noble, and appointed governor of new Fort Frontenac, and given 
a valuable land-grant around it. During the season of 1675, we again 
find La Salle back at Fort Frontenac, surrounded by power and great 
wealth, which had been partially showered upon him by his wealthy rel- 
atives at Rouen, which now enabled him to maintain his garrison, as 
required by the terms of his grant. At this time a bitter feeling existed 
between La Salle and the Jesuits, which threatened to endanger the suc- 
cess of their enterprises. The Jesuits could only retain their control 
over the Indians by excluding traders in the vicinity of their missions, 
over which they had no control. They derived large profits from the 
fur trade at their missions, and thus monopolized that trade as well as 
religion. The Jesuits succeeded in procuring an order from the supreme 
council, prohibiting traders from going into the Indian country to trade. 
The astute La Salle circumvented this order by establishing large settle- 
ments of Iroquois around the fort, who ranged the whole country for him 
as trappers and hunters, without being considered traders. He then 
built a new fort and barracks, erected a flouring-mill, a bakery, and 
numerous houses for French settlers. His fort was in the midst of 
numerous Indian villages, where he reigned as absolute lord of this half- 
civilized and barbarous colony. 

He again visited France early in 1678, and through that renowned 
financier, Colbert, the prime minister of Louis XIV., secured the con- 
firmation and extension of the privileges of discovery before granted, 
together with the authority to build forts in any region h.^ might discover, 
and to hold them upon the same terms contained m th? '(rant of Fort 
Frontenac, which authorized a monopoly of the trade in buffalo-skins, a 
trade heretofore unthought of. 

In July, 1678, he again sailed for Canada, being amply supplied by 
his relatives with wealth. In November following, the expedition 
assembled at Fort Frontenac. On November 8, 1678, disregarding the 
lateness of the season, and the inclement weather, which frowned upon 
them, they embarked, to begin the long and arduous journey to the sea. 



88 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

Notwithstanding the continuous bad weather, the vessel anchored in 
Toronto Bay within eight days after their embarkation. On December 
5th, they crossed to the mouth of the Niagara, and commenced the 
erection of a pahsaded fort. Shortly after this, the-ir vessel was 
wrecked, but their stores were saved and carried up the cliffs of 
Niagara, and from thence conveyed to the shores of Lake Erie by 
sledge, where, at the mouth of Cayuga creek, they laid the keel of the 
first vessel built above the falls, a bark of forty-five tons, and named 
the Griffin. The winter was a long and dreary one for the settlement, 
owing to its severity, and the scant supply of provisions, together with 
the hostile attitude of the Indians, who surrounded them. Before 
spring greeted them. La Salle made his wa}' back to Fort Frontenac, a 
distance of two hundred and fifty miles, on foot, through deep snow, and 
tangled forests, accompanied by two men, a dog and a sledge. Upon 
his arrival, he found his property had been seized by creditors in his 
absence. Discouraged, but adhering to the enterprise, he with diffi- 
culty succeeded in procuring equipments for the Griffin, which was com- 
pleted in the spring and summer of 1679. On August 7th, of this year, 
La Salle and thirty-four voyageurs embarked amidst a favorable breeze 
which carried them to the mouth of the Detroit in four days. After 
being nearly wrecked by a terrible storm, which they encountered on 
Lake Huron, they finally reached Mackinaw, and anchored behind 
Point St. Ignace, w^iere the Jesuits had established a settlement, 
already strong in numbers, as well as in trade. 

In September following, the voyage was continued as far as Green 
Bay, where he was met by his advance party, who had collected large 
quantities of rich furs. The furs were loaded on the Griffin, and sent 
back to Fort Frontenac, to appease the appetites of his ferocious credit- 
ors. The vessel was never again directly heard from, although, in 
after years, a rumor reached La Salle, that two of his agents who were 
on board the Griffin, were shortly after engaged in trade on the upper 
Mississippi. 

From Green Bay, La Salle continued his perilous canoe voyage 
along the western shore of Lake Michigan. After battling many weeks 
with constant danger, along the surf and storm-lashed coasts, they finally 
reached the bay of Milwaukee. After tarrying a short time at this point, 
they moved southward. They were greeted by fairer weather, plentiful 
game and abundance of fruit. They finally reached the mouth of the 
St. Joseph river on the east shore, and erected Fort Miami. On Decem- 
ber 3, 1679, with a party of thirty-two men and eight canoes, they 
ascended the St. Joseph as far as the present site of South Bend, where 
they were shown trails leading to the Kankakee. Carrying their canoes 
over the portage, they launched them in a small stream hardly naviga- 
ble for even such frail crafts, and floated down the stream, which hourly 
grew in volume. At the present site of the village of Utica, they found 



FRENCH EXPLORERS AND EXPLORATIONS. 89 

an Indian town of four hundred and sixty lodges, where, on New Year's 
day, 1680, they landed and said mass. A few days later, they were at 
Peoria, below which place they found an Indian village, which occupied 
both banks of the river. La Salle quickly succeeded in making peace 
with the natives, although it is alleged that, even in that far-away land, 
the threatening hand of the Jesuit power found means to stir the Indians 
to hatred against La Salle. Several attempts had been previously made 
to poison him. La Salle was now in the midst of severe winter. The 
river had been closed by ice, and they were surrounded by savages not 
over-friendly. At this point he was apprised of the loss of the Griffin, 
which he had relied upon to bring back the means to build a boat on the 
Illinois, in which to sail to the Gulf of Mexico and thence to the West 
Indies. Amidst all these disappointments, he built Fort Crevecoeur, 
(which means broken-heart), near the Indian village, then began the erec- 
tion of a forty-ton vessel on the banks of the river. He then, with four 
Frenchmen, a Mohican guide and a canoe, started back to Montreal, by 
way of Fort Miami, where they arrived on March 24th. Thence on foot 
to the Detroit river, which they crossed by raft, and proceeded on to the 
fort on the Niagara river. Here he learned that a vessel from France, 
with a cargo consigned to him, had been wrecked in the Gulf of St. 
Lawrence. He now took three fresh men, and pushed through the 
woods to the northern shore of Lake Ontario, and, on May 6th, he 
sighted the walls of Fort Frontenac. Upon his arrival, he found that he 
had been robbed by some of his agents, his creditors had financially 
embarrassed those who were faithful to him, while his voyageiirs' canoes, 
which were richly laden with furs, had been wrecked in the rapids of the 
St. Lawrence. With the determination worthy of so great an enterprise, 
he, in a short time, secured another outfit, and was about to return to 
the Illinois, when he learned that Fort Crevecoeur had been plundered 
and deserted by his men, who had organized as banditti of the woods 
and lakes, and had also visited and destroyed Fort Miami, plundered 
Michilimackinac of its furs, came on to Fort Niagara, and, after plunder- 
ing it, they separated, one party going to Albany, and the other to Fort 
Frontenac, to surprise and kill La Salle, who, being warned at the crit- 
ical moment, surprised them in detail, as they arrived in canoes, 
and either captured or killed the whole party. But few escaped. 
La Salle, at the head of twenty-five men, started, on August loth, for 
the Illinois, with equipments to finish his vessel for the descent of the 
Mississippi. He traveled by the eastern shore of Georgian Bay to 
Mackinaw, and, on November 4th, he reached the ruins of Fort Miami, 
at the mouth of the St. Joseph. Leaving his stores at this place, he 
proceeded to Fort Crevecoeur, where he found that not only the fort had 
been destroyed, but where he had left a populous Indian village, the 
blackened remains of lodges and human bodies half-burned, told the 
awful story of the bloody visit of the insatiate Iroquois. He followed 



90 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

the river to the Mississippi, and found along the whole valley the horri- 
ble evidence of the retreat of the entire tribe of the Illinois, under the 
murderous attacks of the powerful and bloodthirsty Iroquois. After 
leaving a mark on the shores of the Mississippi, to show that he had 
been there, he returned with his party to commence preparations for the 
great voyage. On January 6, 1681, he reached the Kankakee, and soon 
after arrived at St. Joseph. The horrors of the Iroquois invasion of the 
Illinois country had made so great an impression upon him that he con- 
ceived the idea, and at once put it in execution, to unite the western 
Indian tribes in self-defense, by rallying them around the French flag 
near its forts. 

Late in May, they returned to Michilimackinac, thence to Fort 
Frontenac, by water. Early in December following, they arrived at 
the St. Joseph river. On December 21, 1681, he and fifty-four com- 
panions crossed Lake Michigan and proceeded to the mouth of the 
Chicago river, to find that portage to the Illinois. They, on account of 
the ice, were obliged to place their canoes on sledges and drag them 
over prairies and forests, until they came to open water below Lake 
Peoria. They came to the Mississippi on February 6, 1682, and, on the 
24th of February, they were building Fort Prudhomme near the Chick- 
asaw Bluffs. Spring with its balmy breezes and gentle zepli3Ts, saw 
them floating down the river, where on every hand they met Indians 
more hospitable and intelligent. As they progressed, La Salle with his 
usual suavity of manner, quickly won their good-will, and erected mon- 
uments in their villages, and claimed the country in the name of Louis 
XIV., King of France. On March 31st, he was at the mouth of the 
Red river; on April 6th, at the divergence of the three mouths of the 
Mississippi; and, on April 9th, 1682, he planted at the mouth of the 
Mississippi a cross bearing the arms of France, and, with due impres- 
siveness, claimed the river, and all the lands drained by it, as belonging 
to France, by right of discovery. 

In September of the same year, the untiring La Salle was back at 
Michilimackinac and St. Joseph, and before the winter set in, was 
erecting a fort at Starved Rock, for the safety of the Illinois. In less 
than a year, it is alleged, 20,000 Indians had settled near the fort. It 
seemed as though La Salle's success was well assured. It was left for 
him to trace the Mississippi, for the first time, from its source to the 
sea. But now his greatest trouble began. Frontenac, his resolute and 
mighty friend, was no longer governor of Canada, La Barre was put in 
his place; and he not only set the king against La Salle, but authorized 
the Indians to consider his property legitimate spoils. La Salle then 
sailed to France to see the king. At the luxuriant court of Louis XIV., 
this courageous man made numerous friends. Count Frontenac, then 
in Paris, was among the foremost. The government reversed its policy, 
gave back all his rights and privileges, and ordered four vessels to be 



FRENCH EXPLORERS AND EXPLORATIONS. 



9T^ 



equipped and placed at his command, to make a voj^age directly to the 
mouth of the Mississippi. The fleet was unfortunately placed under the 
command of a man named Beaujeu. This man did all he could to balk 
La Salle's plans. The trip was a series of misfortunes from beginning 
to end. When they came to the Gulf of Mexico, they passed unnoticed 
the mouths of the Mississippi. They searched vainly for the mouths of 
the river, along the Texan coast, and anchored finally in Matagorda 
Bay. Beaujeu, with all but one of the fleet, sailed back to France, 
leaving the colony to its fate. On November i, 1685, La Salle left the 
colony with a party, in order to search again for the Mississippi, and to 












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Assassination of La Salle. 



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bring aid from Canada to help his colony. At the end of March, 1686, 
he returned baffled. Half his men had died in this vain attempt. Again 
he set out to make the journey overland to Canada. Once more he was 
forced to return, on account of many of his men having been lost in a 
cane-brake. Of the two hundred men who had landed with him, but 
forty- five were left. His men now became discontented, and a mutiny 
resulted. Three of his men were murdered while sleeping, and La 
Salle was shot from an ambuscade. 



92 



HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 



Thus ended the life of the renowned La Salle, who had only lived 
forty-four years, which were passed in the interest of those who went 
before him to make up the great discoveries, which would close the 
chapter of the French explorations in North America. 

From 1634, the time when that venturesome explorer, Jean Nicol- 
let, first trod the soil of Wisconsin, up to the time of the Treaty of 
Paris, in 1763, when Wisconsin, as a part of New France, was sur- 
rendered to England — a period of one hundred and twenty-nine years — 
numerous French zealots and adventurers explored the many beautiful 
lakes, and traversed the picturesque waterways within our borders. 




Chapter XVII. 
WISCONSIN UNDER FRENCH DOMINION. — 1634-1763. 

France takes possession of the West. — The French fort at Green Bay plundered by the 
Foxes and their allies. — The Fox River Indians abandon their homes and remove 
to the Detroit river. — French and Indian battle near present site of Neenah.^ — The 
Menomonies overcome. — Morand punishes the tribute-exacting Foxes. — Massacre 
of the Foxes on the Wisconsin. — The brutal De Villiers killed by Young Black- 
bird. — Sacs and Foxes driven from Green Bay. — The downfall cf New France. 

To France we are indebted for onr first pages in actual history. 
From the time Nicollet stepped upon our soil in 1634, up to 1763, when 
New France passed into oblivion, each page is a record of the most 
horrible tragedies ever written in blood. 




^^ 



Plundering of the French Fort at Green B.a.v, and Burning 
OF French Chapel. 

As early as 1670, France was eager to take possession of the West. 
Nicholas Perrot was chosen, as the best fitted, to gather the Indians in 
one grand assembly, and there make known the desires of the French. 
He went in person to the tribes of Wisconsin, and, because of his favor 
among them, he was wonderfully successful. The next spring, Perrot 
returned to Sault Ste. Marie with the guileless barbarians, who were 
ready to surrender their land to the French crown. St. Lusson acted as 
master of ceremonies, but the real work had been done by Perrot. 

One tribe remained that would not do homage to the French. 
Nothing could induce the proud Foxes to be present at the great council. 
They started and went as far as Green Bay, but then turned back. 

While Frontenac was governor of New France, Perrot was forced 
to fall back, and La Salle took his place. In 1685, the friends of Perrot 
again came into power and Perrot was made governor of the Northwest, 



94 



HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 



with headquarters at Green Bay.* He established posts along the 
Mississippi, and made explorations in the countries west of the river. 
He spent the winter not far from Mount Trempealeau on the Black river. 
The next season, Perrot hastened to Green Bay where his presence was 
much needed. The long-smoldering discontent of the Foxes and their 
adherents was now bursting forth into open violence against France. 
This tribe had endured all manner of abuses heaped upon them by the 
traders. La Salle also, for actual or imaginary reasons, had greatly 
incensed the Indians. In 1687, the Foxes, Kickapoos and Mascoutins 
formed a conspiracy to plunder the French fort at Green Bay. The plan 
was carried out, the French chapel burned, and everything of value 
carried off or destroyed. The chief sufferer by this conspiracy was 
Perrot. It is said that he lost furs amounting to 40,000 livres. Even 
this did not discourage Perrot. He pushed on to the Mississippi river, 
and spent the winter again at Mount Trempealeau. The next spring, on 
the 9th of May, 1689, Perrot formally took possession of the great 
northwest, at Fort St. Antoine.f 







.^^ P) 




> /^J«'fes»* 




Perrot was Many Times Condemned to Deajh. 

In 1690, Perrot was at Quebec, whence he returned to Wisconsin. 
Year after year he passed in mediating among the different tribes; not 
only once, but many times, was he condemned to death, but always 
miraculously escaped. Perrot' s old age was spent in poverty. The 
French king had no compassion, and did not heed the many entreaties 
made in his behalf. About 1716 he wrote a memoir addressed to the 
colonial authorities. This is the last we hear of this noble man. 

*Wis. Hist. Col., Vol. X., 299. 

fHebberd's "Wisconsin Under French Dominion," 62. 



WISCONSIN UNDER FRENCH DOMINION. 



95 



At this time the French empire in America was at the height of its 
prosperity. The French, however, did not desire to make settlements 
in the west. All they wished was to control the continent and to 
monopolize its trade. This they did, and the lilies of France floated 
without opposition over the entire land, from Quebec to the mouth of 
the Mississippi, and from the Alleghanies nearly to the base of the 
Rocky Mountains. But already could be heard the murmurings of the 
distant storm. On account of the restrictions throughout France, the 
prices of French merchandise were exorbitant. The English traders 
were able to offer the Indians three or four times more for their furs 
than the French could. This was quickly noticed by the savages, and 
they became much dissatisfied, and began to chafe under the yoke of 
France. 




The Foxes overtaken by the French -and Indians near Detroit. 



The Foxes of Wisconsin were the one tribe that the French could 
not subdue. The fire of Fox resistance did not burn itself out until the 
French empire in America had fallen in ruins. The other Algonquin 
nations, Hurons, Ottawas, and Illinois, placed themselves under the 
protection of the French; the Foxes, on the contrary, proud and unsub- 
dued, first looked upon them with suspicion and dislike, at last with 
burning hatred. 

The French had been made aware of the Foxes' secret hostility, 
and took all manner of precaution to avoid an outbreak. In 1712, the 
Foxes, Mascoutins, Kickapoos, and part of the Sacs, gathered together 
their belongings, left the beautiful and fertile land along the Fox rive= , 



96 



HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 



and made their way to the Detroit river. This they had been persuaded 
to do by the French, in order that they might be gotten out of the way, 
as France readily saw that they were a people untrained, haughty and 
intractable. It was absolutely necessary for them to be gotten rid of. 
When, at last, they had well settled at Detroit, the French began hos- 
tilities. Unaware of and unexpecting any danger, the Foxes were over- 
whelmed with surprise when the French opened fire upon them. The 
defiant Indians, however, were a terror to all. The French would not 
go near them, -but fought at a safe distance, trying to subdue them by 
famine and thirst. In this manner they fought for da3's. Even when 
water failed them they would not give in. Hundreds of their people 

were dying, scores 
were lying unbur- 
ied in their camp. 
Still the cruel fight 
went on. The 

French were very 
nearly discouraged 
It seemed impos- 
sible to overcome 
such people as the 
Foxes. At last, 
after nineteen days 
of fighting, fortune 
came to the relief 
of the Foxes, One 
dark night, during 
a heavy rainstorm, 
the Indians stealth- 
ily departed. The 
next morning the 
French set out in 
hot pursuit. They 
Fox Women Burned at the Stake. came upon a party 

of the Foxes about twelve miles above Detroit, and, after two 
days' fighting, the Indians were forced to surrender. Mercy was not 
shown them, nor was it asked. All the warriors were slaughtered. 
Even the women and children were not spared. Nothing in the annals 
of Indian history is as black as this transaction. Hundreds upon hun- 
dreds of fires were kindled in order to slowly burn at the stake some 
woman or inoffensive child. 

This unparalleled slaughter had only deepened the hatred of the 
Foxes towards the French. They were not nearly so well exterminated 
as the French had fondly anticipated. Four hundred good warriors 
were still at Green Bay, and some others, who had been scattered in the 




WISCONSIN UNDER FRENCH DOMINION. 97 

flight. So, from time to time, the governor had to complain of the 
Indians' insolence. The Indians, however, were now more civil to the 
surrounding tribes, and sought in every way to make friends and allies. 
This they soon did, and, in 1714, the Fox and the Sioux tribes combined 
and made war against the Illinois, a tribe in alliance with the French. 
At this the French authorities were greatly distressed, for the thought 
of being overcome by a single tribe of Indians was to them bitter as gall. 
The great but fragile empire of New France was almost wiped out of 
existence by these desperate and untamable savages of Wisconsin. 

The French thought of numerous methods to overcome this danger. 
At last it was decided to again attempt the extermination of the Foxes. 
This plan met the opposition of the most experienced people of the 
colony, but all in vain. On the 14th of March, 1716, De Louvigny* led 
the expedition from Quebec to destroy the Foxes. There were about 
eight hundred men in this expedition, and they were the first white men, 
to any great extent, that had ever reached Wisconsin. First, they came 
to Green Bay, from there they ascended the rapids of the Fox river 
until they arrived at the town of the Foxes, which was nearly opposite 
the present city of Neenah. Here the savages were quietly awaiting 
the attack, which they so well knew must surely come. They were pre- 
pared to sell their lives as dearly as possible. The Indians had five 
hundred warriors, and more than three thousand women. For three 
days they kept up a continual fire, and withstood the deadly attack of 
the French, expecting every moment a reinforcement of three hundred 
men. At the last moment they attempted to surrender, but were not 
listened to. De Louvigny had come to destroy, not to make terms of 
peace. A second time the Indians sued for peace. This time, for some 
unaccountable reason, the governor listened to the proposition. Proba- 
bly he was aware of the closeness of the long-expected reinforcements. 
De Louvigny was much censured for his conduct. He tried to hold the 
Indians responsible, but they indignantly denied his report. The terms 
of the surrender were mild. The Foxes were to give back their pris- 
oners; they were to hunt, to pay the expenditures of the war; they were 
to capture slaves and give them to the French, to replace the dead; and 
six of their chiefs, or chiefs' children, were to be sent or taken to Quebec 
as hostages. De Louvigny then set out for home and arrived at Quebec 
on October 12th. This battle took place about thirty-seven miles above 
Green Bay, at a place called Little Butte des Morts.f 

The next spring De Louvigny^ was sent back to carry out the con- 

*De Louvigny is said to have lost his life in a shipwreck, August 27, 1725. 

f Strong's " History of Wisconsin Territory," 33-34. 

:j:The following is the account of the battle, in De Louvigny's own words: 

" After three days of open trenches, sustained by a continuous fire of fusileers, 
with two pieces of cannon and a grenade mortar, they were reduced to ask for peace, 
notwithstanding they had five hundred warriors in the fort, who fired briskly, and more 
than three thousand women ; they also expected shortly a reinforcement of three hun- 
dred men. But the promptitude with which the officers, who were in this action, pushed 



98 



HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 



ditions of the surrender. In the meantime, three of the Fox chiefs had 
died of small-pox at Quebec, and another, the only remaining one it 
seems, had lost one eye. This one-eyed savage hostage, with two 
French interpreters, the governor sent to perfect the treaty. At first he 




Surrender of the Foxes near Neenah. 

induced the Foxes to sign an agreement that they would send ambassa- 
dors to Montreal to finish the treaty the next spring. With this indis- 
pensable and precious paper, the hostage, together with the two French 
interpreters, started for Michilimackinac. After about thirty miles had 
been traversed, the Indian hostage, who rejoiced in but one eye, began 
to reconsider. He finally said he felt it his duty to go back to his people 
and help them keep faith with the French. After making this deliberate 

forward the trenches that I had opened at only seventy yards from the fort, made the 
enemy fear the third night that they would be taken. As I was only twenty-four yards 
from their fort, my design was to reach the triple oak stakes by a ditch of a foot and a 
half in the rear. Perceiving very well that my balls had not the effect I anticipated, I 
decided to take the place at the first onset, and to explode two mines under their cur- 
tains. The boxes being properly placed for the purpose, I did not listen to the enemies' 
first proposition ; but they having made a second one, I submitted it to my allies, who 
consented to it on the following conditions: That the Foxes and their allies would make 
peace with all the Indians who are submissive to the king, and with whom the French 
are engaged in trade and commerce, and that they would return to me all the French 
prisoners that they have, and those captured during the war from our allies. This was 
complied with immediately. That they would take slaves from distant natives and 
deliver them to our allies, to replace their dead ; that they should hunt to pay the 
expenses of this war, and as a surety of the keeping of their word, they should deliver 
me six chiefs, or children of chiefs, to take with me to M. La Marquis De Vaudreuil as 
hostages, until the entire execution of our treaty, which they did, and I took them with 
me to Quebec. Besides I have re-united the other nations, at variance among them- 
selves, and have left that country enjoying universal peace." 



WISCONSIN UNDER FRENCH DOMINION. 99 

speech, the one-eyed savage turned back, and was soon lost to view in 
the depths of the surrounding forest. So ended the much-talked-of 
treaty of the French with the Foxes. 

The question now arises, what good had the expedition of De Lou- 
vigny accomplished ? The natural answer is, none whatsoever; nothing 
but evil resulted from his work. The Foxes, in place of being exter- 
minated, had been aroused to greater efforts. Now that many of the 
old warriors were dead, nothing remained to check the wild impetuosity 
of the young chiefs. They made friends with all the tribes that was 
possible, and attacked the Illinois Indians, who were stanch adherents 
of the French. In this manner the very core of the French nation was 
being aimed at. This danger was fully realized by the French author- 
ities. Year after year, the Foxes strengthened their forces, and, year 
after year, the French became more uneasy. The confederation which 
the hostile Indians formed in this manner is entirely without equal in 
the history of American Indians. Their attacks on the Illinois were 
increasing, and all but one tribe were compelled to flee southward. This 
one tribe had a formidable stronghold on Rock St. Louis. This the 
Foxes knew, but, undaunted, decided to capture it. Reinforcements 
were sent to the French allies, and the Foxes were obliged to raise the 
siege. The attack was thought foolish at first, but the outcome was 
good. Immediately after the siege was over, the Indians fled from the 
barren Rock St. Louis. The French tried hard to prevent this, but of 
no avail. The colonial authorities made every effort to keep control of 
the Illinois river. 

On the 7th of June, 1725, at Green Bay, the French again tried to 
make peace. The Indians were penitent, and placed the blame on the 
young warriors. This was merely by-play. Peace was neither desired 
nor expected by the French; their idea was to exterminate the Foxes.* 

To this end, the French were eagerly preparing to slaughter the 
Foxes. For some time the French had endeavored to establish a trad- 
ing-post on the Mississippi. Until now they had been unable to do so. 
By their treaty with the Foxes, they had at least carried this point — the 
building of Fort Beauharnois. As soon as. this end was accomplished, 
they threw off all reserve, and declared war. They said that the Foxes 
were still sending war parties against the Illinois. The French, with 
the utmost secrecy, made all preparations for the final move. All the 
Canadians and friendly Indians were told to hold themselves in readi- 
ness for the onset in the ensuing spring. 

On the 5th of June, 1728, about four hundred Frenchmen, under 
M. De Lignery,"]" together with nearly nine hundred savages, started 
from Montreal. Many more were expected to join the expedition on 
the route to Green Bay. On the 15th of August, they came to the vil- 

*Hebberd's "Wisconsin Under French Dominion," 114. 
fWis. Hist. Coll. Vol. III., 148-163. 



lOO 



HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 



lage of the Menomonies, and these savages were entirely overcome. 
Elated with this success, the French moved on toward the Sac village 
at Green Bay. When about eight or ten miles from the village, they 
halted and waited until nightfall. Under cover of its darkness, they 
boldly advanced, and, about midnight, reached the village. But they 
were balked of their prey. The Indians had been warned and had fled. 
The pillagers next went to the village of the Winnebagoes. This tribe 
also had fled. The French were obliged to content themselves with the 
destruction of their huts, and harvest of Indian corn, upon which the 
savages principally subsisted. Now they moved on to the chief settle- 
ment of the Foxes. Here, also, nothing but emptiness greeted them. 
One more town of the enemy they went to, but that, also, was forsaken. 
The savage allies would then go no farther, so the French were forced 
to go back. Before returning, however, they devastated all the villages, 
and destroyed all the corn, peas, beans and gourds that they could find. 




Massacre of the Menomonees. 

This left the Foxes in a very poor condition. Winter was close at hand, 
and starvation staring them in the face. What they were to do they 
knew not. The Sioux had refused to receive them. Even the Mascoutins 
and Kickapoos, their oldest allies, had deserted them. The Foxes 
were left alone to bear the brunt of the French vandals. 

They spent the first winter in the land of the lowas, but love of 
home overpowering them, they came back to Wisconsin in the spring. 
Their spirit at last broken, they were willing to give up all to the 



WISCONSIN UNDER FRENCH DOMINION. loi 

insatiate French. The French answered their peaceful proposals by 
fiercer attacks than ever before. Towards the end of 1729, a party of 
Ottawas, Chippewas, Menominees and Winnebagoes ambuscaded a 
detachment of Fox Indians. Three hundred women and children were 
taken prisoners, and, of the eighty warriors in the detachment, all but 
three were killed or captured. Burned at the stake was their horrible 
fate. The idea is erroneous that burning originated with the Indians. 
It is true they burned men, but it was left for the French to burn 
defenseless women and children. This went far beyond the malignity 
of the uncivilized savage. "That was the invention of the French, one 
of those depths of infamy into which it would seem that only the civi- 
lized could sink, as a stone descends with the greater force when it falls 
from the greater height."* 

The Foxes sent the great chief of their nation to make peace. He 
was willing, and expected nothing but death for his portion. The only 
thing he asked for was the lives of the women and children. Even this 
sad appeal did not stir the hearts of the hard-hearted French. The 
French attempted to place all the blame on their savage allies, but his- 
tory shows that such was not the case. 

Captain Morand, of France, a prominent trader among the Sacs and 
various nations on the Mississippi, had a place of deposit on the banks of 
the Mississippi, called Fort Morand, and another nine miles west of Macki- 
naw, also known by the same name. The numerous exactions of the 
Foxes, by way of tribute, vexed Morand to the degree that he resolved 
to chastise them. He raised a small volunteer force at Mackinaw, which 
was increased by the friendly Indians at Green Bay. Morand' s fleet of 
canoes started from Green Bay up the Fox river about March, 1730, 
each canoe being full of well-armed men, having an oil-cloth large 
enough to cover both men and boat. This was customary to all traders 
in order to protect their goods from the evil effects of the weather. 
They proceeded on their way as far as Grand Chute, about three miles 
below Little Butte des Morts, where Morand divided his party, one going 
by land to surround the village and attack them from the rear, while the 
water division would attack them from the front. 

In due time, the Foxes discovered the approach of the fleet. Only 
two men were seen in each canoe. The Foxes then placed out their 
signal torch, and squatted themselves thickly along the banks of the 
river and waited patiently for their customary tribute. When the fleet 
arrived sufficiently near to be effective, the oil-cloths were thrown, and 
a deadly volley from a large swivel-gun, loaded with grape and canister, 
together with the musketry of the soldiers, scattered death among the 
unsuspecting savages. Almost simultaneously, the land party opened 
fire from the rear, nearly annihilating the Indians. 

Tradition also gives us an account of the remnants of the Foxes, 

*Hebberd's "Wisconsin Under French Dominion." 



I02 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

locating about three miles above the Great Butte des Morts. Here 
Morand, the same season, followed them, and a severe battle ensued, in 
which many Foxes were slain, and the remaining ones forced to fly. 
According to the statement of Perrish Grignon, that he had many years 
ago discovered a large number of Indian skulls and other remains in a 
crevice or cavity on the shore of Lake Winnebago, near the old Indian 
village of Black Wolf, and suggested that when the Foxes fled from the 
Little Butte des Morts, they may have passed around the head of Lake 
Winnebago, and placed the dead within said cavity. 

The surviving Foxes located on the northern banks of the Wiscon- 
sin, about twenty miles from its mouth, near the Kickapoo river. When 
the revengeful and enterprising Morand heard of their new location, he 
collected his trusted band of French and Indians, and made a distant 
winter expedition against the Foxes. They pursued their way on foot 
up the Fox river and down the Wisconsin, taking with them snow shoes. 
In this manner they pursued their tedious march over the snow, for a 
distance of two hundred miles or more. Morand and his forces found 
the Foxes engaged in the amusement of jeudepaille, or game of straws. 
Their camp was completely destroyed, so that only twenty Fox warriors, 
with a large number of women and children, were taken prisoners. Not 
one of the Foxes escaped. According to one tradition, the prisoners 
all escaped through the cunning of an Indian woman ; according to 
another, they were liberated by Captain Morand,* and allowed to retire 
across the Mississippi. f 

About two months after Morand' s attack, another party started out 
to accomplish what had long been tried, the extermination of the Foxes. 
In this expedition were five hundred and fifty-five Indians and fifty 
Frenchmen. Of this resolve the wily Foxes became aware, and, before 
the other squad had even started out, the Indians had fled southward 
oiit of reach of the enemy. The wretched fugitives were next found 
gathered on the Illinois river, near Rock St. Louis. Here they fortified 
themselves, and prepared for a desperate resistance. De Villiers, in 
command of eleven hundred Indians, and one hundred and seventy 
Frenchmen, started from Fort St. Joseph, in Michigan, to once more 
try and overcome the Fox nation. On the 19th of August, 1730, the 
battle commenced, and continued unceasingly for twenty-two days. 
The Foxes were outnumbered four to one. This, however, did not hin- 
der them from fightmg with their old-time valor. After fighting for 
some time, in both camps food became scarce. Many of the French 
Indian allies deserted — but the French were persevering. They built a 
fort so that the Foxes were cut off from the river, and thus had no place 
from whence to get their water. This made further resistance seem 
impossible. Fate in the meantime once more came to the Foxes' aid. 

*Strong, in his "History of Wisconsin Territory," calls Morand Sieur Perriere 
Marin. 

fWis. Hist. Col., Vol. IH., 206, 211. 



WISCONSIN UNDER FRENCH DOMINION. 



103 



On the 8th of September, it rained and stormed terribly. The next 
night turned out to be cold, rainy and dark. Taking advantage of the 
gloomy appearance, the Foxes silently stole away from the fort. The 
crying of the children made their flight known, however, before they had 
succeeded in getting away from the reach of their French enemies. The 
next morning, as day broke, these inhuman Frenchmen started out in 
hot pursuit. It did not take them long to overtake the Fox war- 
riors, who were in the rear of the women and children, as a protection. 
The battle which followed soon turned into a massacre. Of the whole 
party, only fifty or sixty warriors escaped, while three hundred were 
either killed or burned. Not satisfied with this, they killed or burned 
six hundred defenseless women and children. 




The Foxes Dwelling in Peace upon the Borders of 

THE Wisconsin. 

Now the French were joyful. Although a few had escaped their 
bloodthirst}' attack, yet so many had been massacred that they sup- 
posed they would ever more be rid of the proud and unconquered Fox 
nation. Two j^ears passed away before we again find the wandering 
remnants of the Fox people molested by the French. They had lived 
in comparative peace for these two years, but the skies were again dark- 
ening over their vinhappy heads. The French government, as early as 



I04 



HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 



1726, decreed that the Fox nation should be extirpated. * Upon October 
17, 1732, the remnants of the Foxes were dwelHng in peace upon the 
borders of the Wisconsin. The wrath of the French having recently 
been rekindled, a large body of Christian Iroquois from the St. Lawrence, 
and the Hurons from Detroit, ascending the summit of a hill, one day, 
looked down into the vale below, and discovered the Foxes m their tran- 
quil homes. Discharging their guns, and with tomahawk in hand, they 
came down upon the unsuspecting Foxes like an avalanche, and, within 
a short space of time, three hundred men, women and children were 
massacred. Several parties escaped to other nations. One party of 



y-.>p 







Massacre of the Foxes on the Wisconsin. 

sixty or seventy men, women and children, in their despair went to Green 
Bay. and threw themselves upon the mercy of the brutal De Villiers, the 
French commandant, f In this party was the great Fox chief, Klola, 
who was sent to Quebec, and from there into slavery under the burning 
skies of Martinique. Kiola was followed to Quebec by his faithful wife, 
whose love for her husband was so great that she voluntarily joined him 
in the chain-gang at Martinique. 

About this time, an order was issued by the French governor-gen- 
eral, to discontinue the burning the Foxes, whom they took as prisoners. 
"It has only served to irritate the Fox people, and arouse the strongest 
hatred towards us," says the worthy governor-general. 



*Wis. Hist. Col., Vol. III., 148. 

fHebberd's "Wisconsin Under French Dominion," 137. 



WISCONSIN UNDER FRENCH DOMINION. 



105 



Another band of Fox fugitives, who had fled to Green Bay, found 
an asylum in the Sac village, across the river from the fort.* They had 
remained nearly a year with the Sacs, when the French government 
decided to demand their surrender. M. De Repentigny, the commandant 
at Mackinaw, was secretly sent with sixty Frenchmen and two hundred 
Indians to the aid of De Villiers. The French and Indian forces were 
concealed about a mile from the fort, and were to advance upon the dis- 
charge of three gun-shots. De Villiers then returned to the fort, and 
sent for the Sac chiefs, and demanded that the Foxes be delivered by a 
certain hour. The chiefs gravely listened, then withdrew to consult 
with their people. 




Shooting of De Villiers bv Young Blackbird. 

The Foxes, remembering the fate of their chief, Kiola, and the hor- 
rors of Martinique slavery, were unwilling to be delivered up to De Vil- 
liers. The Sacs, like all Indian nations, never violated the rules of 
hospitality. The appointed time passed, and the Foxes did not appear. 
De Villiers, now thoroughly enraged at the contempt shown to his 
demand, and half maddened by drink, took with him De Repentigny 
and eight other Frenchmen, hastened to the palisaded Sac village, and 

*Hebberd's "Wisconsin Under French Dominion," 138. 



io6 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

attempted to force an entrance. The principal chief entreated him to 
desist, and told him that, if he did not, he would be killed, as the young 
men could not be controlled. The enraged De Villiers drew up his gun, 
and shot the chief dead, then with his pistols shot two other chiefs. A 
young Indian lad, about twelve years old, leveled his gun and shot the 
brutal commandant dead. Then a general fight ensued, in which 
De Repentigny and all of the Frenchmen, except one, were killed.* 

Three nights later, amidst a terrible storm, the Sacs abandoned 
their camp and stole away. The French and their Indian allies overtook 
them about twenty miles away, and a fierce battle was fought, in which 
both sides lost heavily. 

The Sacs continued their way westward, and finally located their 
village two or three days' journey southward from the mouth of the 
Wisconsin. French hatred still pursued them. In August, 1734, 
DeNoyelles, with eighty Frenchmen and several hundred of their 
savage allies, left Montreal for the purpose of exterminating this little 
band of Fox and Sac exiles. Before DeNoyelles reached their village 
on the Wapinacon river, the Sacs and Foxes fled southward and 
entrenched themselves on the banks of the Des Moines. The French 
finally arrived, and, after many weeks of unsuccessful sorties, inglori- 
ously returned to Montreal. 

History and tradition are silent as to whether these Sacs and Foxes 
joined the confederation at the mouth of the Rock river or not. The 
presumption is that they did. 

According to Grignon's recollections, as pubiished in Vol. III., 
205 and 206, Wis. Hist. Coll., Captain De Velie was the commandant 
of a small garrison at Green Bay, but was relieved by the arrival of the 
new commandant, who brought with him demands for the the Sacs, at 
a village opposite the fort, to deliver up the few Foxes who were living 
with them. All were readily given up, except a Fox boy, who had been 
adopted by a Sac woman. De Velie and his successor, having wined 
and dined together, entered into a sharp controversy relating to the 
tardiness of the Sacs in surrendering the Fox boy, upon which De Velie 
arose, and taking his gun and a negro servant, crossed the river to the 
palisaded town oi the Sacs opposite. From them he demanded the 
immediate surrender of the Indian youth. The chief informed him that 
his principal chiefs and men had just been in council about the matter, 
and, while the adopted mother did not like to part with her son, they 
were in hopes to persuade her to peacefully deliver the lad. The chief 
visited the old lady, who appeared obstinate, while De Velie the more 
vehemently renewed his demands. Three times the deputation waited 
upon the obstinate old Indian woman, without success. The excited 
and well-wined Frenchman, now losing all patience, drew up his gun 
and shot the leading chief dead. His gun was reloaded by his servant, 

*Ibid. 



WISCONSIN UNDER FRENCH DOMINION. 



107 



then De Velie took it and shot down another chief, and finally a third 
one. Ma-Kan-Ta-Pe-Na-Se, a young Sac, only twelve years of age, 
afterwards known as the celebrated Blackbird,* shot and killed the 
enraged Frenchman. The recollections of Grignon do not in every 
respect bear the imprint of sound reason, as it is not reasonable to 
suppose that the Indians would allow De Velie, after shooting their 
leading chief, to hand his gun to the negro servant to reload, then shoot 
another chief, then reload and shoot a third. 

In four states, Michigan, Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsm, they were 
followed, besieged and massacred. Two thousand died from starvation 
in one winter. Twenty-five hundred were burned at the stake. It 
seems incredible, but the truth of the story is founded on the boasts 
of the French. The other side of the story has never been told. In 
1736, only one hundred warriors were left, making in all about eight 



h^I^'~: 



■1 ' "'«- 




iM-M^ 



-'■^ 



Fort Bkauharnois Abandoned by thi. rKi;.\cn. 

hundred persons. The French dominion in the west had received a 
blow from which it never rallied. By all manner of promises and 
cajolery, the French had tried to gain control of the various tribes of 
Indians. In this, up to 171 2, they were successful. The Fox nation's 
treatment had disenchanted the Indians, and they quickly saw through 
the faults and weaknesses of the whites. The whites had sealed their 
own doom, when they had tried to drive the Foxes from Wisconsin. 
The Sioux, who dwelt beyond the Mississippi, were the first nation that 
became restless and discontented. In 1736, they put an end to all 

^According to Laurent Fily, an old fur trader, Blackbird became a distinguished 
chief among his people, and lived at the Sac village, at the mouth of the Rock river, 
and there in his old age, died. 



io8 



HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 



explorations in the far west, by killing a part of the French party. They 
next began to molest the Chippewa allies of the French, and, before the 
next year had passed away, they became so quarrelsome at and around 
Fort Beauharnois on Lake Pepin, that the post had to be abandoned by 
the French. 

At this time in the south, the Indians were also becoming discon- 
tented. Next the flames of revolt turned eastward. The Hurons and 
Ottawas, the firm allies of the French, now arose against their former 
associates, and for three years made ceaseless trouble. The governor 
of Canada became much discouraged, and complained loudly to the 
French authorities of the Indians' insolence. 

Although peace had been made with the Foxes in 1737, it could not 
have lasted long, as we again find the French making peace, in 1739, 
with this warlike tribe. This also was but a pretense. The Foxes 

joined themselves 
with the Sioux, 
their stanch adher- 
ents of olden times, 
and, in 1741, both 
nations were at war 
with the French 
allies, the Chippe- 
was in the north 
and the Illinois in 
the south. The' 
Chippewas began 
to form settlements 
in northern Wis- 
consin. Many of 
them settled around 
the Chippewa and 
other rivers. Tra- 
dition hands down 
a pathetic story in 
relation to the 
settlement of one 
of these new vil- 
ages. A party of 
Indians, on the 
hunt, at one time 
stopped to rest on 
the shore of a lake 
in the forest. While here one of the little children died, and 
was buried at the edge of the waterside. Then they went on. The 
father and mother of the dead child were, however, overcome, and 




Chippewas Mourning for the Death of 
Their Child. 



WISCONSIN UNDER FRENCH DOMINION. 109 

bitterly mourned for their much-beloved child, who had gone before 
them to the Happy Hunting Ground, where all was well. The next 
summer their grief was such that they returned to the spot where their 
little one lay buried, and, upon arriving at the place, were unable to tear 
themselves away, so built their hut there, alone in the forest, in the path 
of their enemies, but close to their beloved child's grave. Here they 
dwelt in peace for some time. Other Chippewas came and settled from 
time to time, and thus began a village which still exists. We know not 
whether this story is true or only fiction, but it shows us that the nature 
of an Indian is not so much different from a white man's as we might 
suppose. 

In 1747, Marin, who was commander of St. Joseph, in Michigan, 
reported that the friendly Indians were being debauched by the English. 
The same year, there was a revolt in the region of the Detroit. In 1748, 
the Miamis, who were the most powerful nation east of the Mississippi, 
plundered a French fort and committed many other acts of violence. 
Rumors were heard to the effect that all the western Indians were con- 
spiring among themselves to drive the white men from the country. 
Even the Chippewas, who had been such stanch adherents of the French, 
now joined their lot with that of the enemy. 

In 1750, the fury of the Miamis again broke forth. They even went 
so far as to urge the Illinois to join them. This slavish tribe betrayed 
the plot, and warned the French. After 1737, the French had only one 
tribe left — the Illinois, — that was friendly. All their other associates 
had turned against them. Virtually, the ruin and downfall of the French 
dominion was close at hand. Other causes were interwoven with the 
foregoing. The colonial government had reached the lowest state of 
corruption. Millions of dollars were being stolen from the king, sol- 
diers, and the Indians. Under these disastrous circumstances the fur 
trade sank lower and lower. The goods of the French were inferior and 
their prices wonderfully high. Liquor was freely given the Indians, in 
order to the more readily swindle them. The savages tried all in their 
power to break loose from these daring robberies. Many of the tribes 
opened trade with the English. Green Bay had become the center of 
the corrupt officials, who were robbing both the government and the 
Indians. In 1750, Marin went to Green Bay with the intention of acting 
as governor of the northwest, and to search for a passage to the Sea of 
the West. This, however, was merely an excuse. His real object was 
to manage a partnership which was to try and control the fur trade of 
the northwest. Besides this source of revenue they had various other 
schemes for making money. Their unlawful gains must have realized 
millions. Marin struck many blows at his enemies, but injustice must 
not be done him — he was a wise, courageous and faithful servant of 
France. DuQuesne admired him greatly, and, when he died, wrote to 
the king that "the death of Marin is an irreparable loss to the colony."* 
*Hebberd's "Wisconsin Under French Dominion," 158. 



no HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

The Sacs, upon being driven from the vicinity of Green Bay, settled 
on the banks of the Wisconsin river, near where the present city of 
Prairie du Sac is situated. The Foxes, after their almost endless wan- 
derings, built a town near the mouth of the Wisconsin, where now 
stands Prairie du Chien. With their accustomed keenness they selected 
their location, which, after a little, became the great center of the north- 
west. The Foxes also swelled their prosperity by mining as well as 
trading. Their work in smelting ores was carried on with such secrecy 
that no stranger was allowed to come near their mines, much less to 
enter them. 

The Sioux, their firm bystanders, had given them horses, so that, 
after a few years, their warriors were all superbly mounted. The pros- 
perity of these barbarous people has been the wonder and admiration of 
ages. The other Indian tribes, the Chippewas and Illinois, who had 
always been friendly to the French, were degraded and cowardly, while 
those who had openly opposed and defied any overtures of the whites 
were progressive and prosperous. Through this we can readily see. 
The Indian allies of the French were subservient to such a degree that 
all their old-time spirit was lost, and, in consequence, they became 
debased and cowardly. Everywhere their vile habits were commented 
on. The hostile Indians, on the other hand, always had devoted them- 
selves to their own interests, therefore were far superior to the French 
Indian allies. 

Notwithstanding the French conception and the boldness of .the 
projects they entertained of connecting their settlements in New France, 
by a chain of fortifications from the St. Lawrence to that of the Missis- 
sippi, the western parts of New York and Pennsylvania, the state of 
Ohio, and what was known as the territory of Michigan, still exhibit 
the monuments of their labor. Agriculture was the only sure basis upon 
which to support and encourage distant settlements. The French 
relied upon the military ardor of their nation, and neglected the princi- 
pal causes and sources for permanent preeminence in New France. 

The French system of policy was so narrow and illiberal it was 
impossible for her to raise in her settlements strong agricultural inter- 
ests, which were alike necessary in peace, as well as their defense in 
times of war. 

Among the early French land-grants is the grant of De le Mothe 
Cadillac, to an inhabitant of Detroit, Francois Faford de Lorme, in the 
year 1707, the conditions of which are similar to those of the grant given 
by the Marquis de Beauharnois, governor and lieutenant-general of 
New France and Louisiana, and are also similar in substance to all 
grants issued under the French regime, which are as follows: 

I. To pay a reserved rent of fifteen livres a year to the crown, for- 
ever. 



WISCONSIN UNDER FRENCH DOMINION. m 

II. To begin to clear and improve the concession within three 
months from the date of the grant. 

III. All the timber is reserved to the crown, whenever it may be 
wanted for the fortifications, or for the constructions of boats, or other 
vessels (that is to say when reduced to plain language, it may be taken 
at the pleasure of any military officer who may happen to have com- 
mand of the country). 

IV. The properties of all mines and minerals, if any be found, 
does not pass by the grant. 

V. The privilege of hunting hares, rabbits; partridges and pheas- 
ants does not pass. 

VI. The grantee is to come and carry, plant or help to plant, a 
long may-pole before the door of the principal manor-house, on the first 
day of May in every year. 

VII. All the grains of the grantee are to be carried to the nioulin 
batinal, or mill of the manor, to be ground, paying the tolls sanctioned 
by the coutume de Paris. 

VIIL On every sale of the land a species of duty is to be paid, 
termed the lods et vente; w^hich in the English law might bear the name 
of a fine of alienation, but it is more intelligible to an American ear under 
the appellation of a tax on the sale of the land. This tax, by the coutume 
de Paris, forms no inconsiderable proportion of the value of the whole. 

IX. Previous to a sale, the grantee is to give information to the 
government, and if the government is willing to take it at the price 
offered to him, it is to have it. « 

X. The grantees cannot mortgage it without the consent of the 
government previously obtained. 

XI. For ten years the grantee is not permitted to work, or cause 
any person to work, directly or indirectly, at the profession and trade of 
a blacksmith, locksmith, armorer or brewer. 

XII. All effects and articles of merchandise sent to or brought 
from Montreal, must be sold by the grantee himself, or other person, 
who, with his family, is a French resident, and not by etigagees, or 
clerks, or foreigners, or strangers. 

XIII. The grantee is not to sell to a foreigner, without special 
permission. 

XIV. If he sells to a foreigner with permission, the rent reserved 
is greatly increased; and the duties of the coutume, in such cases, are to 
be paid, 

XV. He is not to sell or trade brandy to the Indians, on pain of 
confiscation. 

XVI. The public charges and servitudes, and royal and seigneurial 
rights of the coutume de Paris, are reserved generally. 

XVII. The grantee is to suffer on his lands that which may be 
thought necesisary for the public utility. 



112 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

XVIIL The grantee is to make his fences as it shall be regulated. 

XIX. He is to assist in making his neighbor's fences, when called 
upon. 

XX. He is to cause his land to be alienated, that is, surveyed, set 
apart, at his expense. 

XXI. He is to obtain a brevet of confirmation, from Europe, 
within two years.* 

In 1752, the revolt broke loose which scattered death through many 
an Indian village. The Miamis and other tribes threw of the French 
yoke entirely. To overcome these desperate savages, Charles Langlade 
was sent out with a party of faithful Ottawas. Langlade was a young 
man, but twenty-three years of age. His father was French, but his 
mother was of Indian parentage. Because of his low birth, Langlade 
was looked down upon by the French authorities, and while his success 
as a soldier was admired, personally he was disdained. He started out 
with thirty Frenchmen and two hundred and fifty Indians, and soon 
reached western Ohio, where the Miamis dwelt. The grand chief of 
the Miami confederacy resided at Piqua, a town containing four hundred 
families. This place he and his band reached on the morning of the 
21 st of June, 1752. The inhabitants, unprepared for an attack, after a 
fierce but short resistance, gave up. The conquering party burned the 
town, killed one English trader, and took five prisoners. This was 
indeed the last straw. The inevitable had come. We next see Lang- 
lade pitted against Braddock, where his military skill soon won for 
him many laurels. He first acted in the capacity of lieutenant, after- 
wards of captain. He possessed great energy, was active and persever- 
ing in all enterprises which he undertook, and the utter obscurity of his 
last years seems almost improbable. No man took a more active inter- 
est in his country than did Langlade, and, when the downfall of the 
French dominion was carried into execution at the fall of Quebec, none 
could have felt more keenly the transfer of the reigning power, than 
Charles Langlade, f 

The Fox wars, twenty years before, had proven the utter impossi- 
bility of the French despotism governing America. After the defeat of 
the French by the English, and the departure of the French authorities, 
Langlade sinks into oblivion. In April, 1763, Major Etherington gave 
Langlade authority to reside at Green Bay permanently. Here he 
established a little village of French traders — the first permanent white 
settlement in Wisconsin— the relic of a fallen empire. J; 
*Smith's "History of Wisconsin," Vol. I., 429-430. 

f De Langlade died in January, 1800, at the age of seventy-five years, after an ill- 
ness of only two weeks, and was buried in the cemetery at Green Bay, close to the spot 
where his father lay buried. He was said to have been a fine appearing man, and the 
remarkable purity and elegance of his French was wondered at by all France. 

ifHebberd's "Wisconsin Under French Dominion," 167. 



.JiSL^^K& 





Pope Leo XIII. 



Chapter XVIII. 
WISCONSIN UNDER ENGLISH RULE.— 1763-1796. 

British Supremacy in the West. — Land Grants. — Pontiac's Conspiracy. — Military Posts 
Captured. — Decline and Downfall of English Rule. 

British supremacy was founded upon the ruins of the French empire, 
upon the downfall of Quebec. The capture of Quebec in 1759, and the 
capitulation of Montreal in 1760, extinguished the French dominion in 
the St. Lawrence basin, and by the terms of the Treaty of Paris in 1763,* 
all of the possessions and claims of the French nation to the vast coun- 
tries watered by the Ohio and Mississippi were ceded to Great Britain. 
Thus a new era in the history of the west commenced with the year 1763. 
England now held the sovereignty of Nova Scotia, Acadia, Canada, and, 
in fact, the whole of New France, including the country from the Gulf 
of Mexico to the sources of the Mississippi, then designated as Louisiana. 
Of all the power that France once held over those vast regions not an 
iota remained, except the deeply-seated affection and enduring friend- 
ship of some of the Indian nations. 

The transfer of the dominion from the French to the English gov- 
ernment, and the occupancy of the military posts by the new masters, 
did not in any great degree alter the social condition of the inhabitants. 
By the terms and conditions of the capitulation of Montreal, the French 
subjects were permitted to remain in the country, in the full enjoyment 
of their civil and religious rights. The great fur trade, which had been 
prosecuted upon the lakes and rivers with such success by the French, 
was now pushed forward with great energy by the English company, 
who employed French agents, voyegeurs, and coiirriers du bois, to conduct 
their trading transactions with the Indians. Agriculture was not pur- 
sued by the English to any greater extent than by their predecessors, as 
but few of their nation had yet come into this country, except for the 
purpose of trade. The French settlements were along the principal 
streams of the lakes, and in the immediate vicinity of the military posts. f 
The farms were scattered along the banks of the rivers in a narrow form, 
surrounded by pickets. 

At the time of the surrender of the post to the English, there w^ere 
about fifty cottages on the Straits of Detroit, | with small orchards by 
their side. The cottages were constructed of logs, with roofs of bark or 

*The articles of the Treaty of Paris were signed on the 3d day of November, 1762, 
but were not concluded. On that day, a secret treaty between Spain and France was 
entered into, wherein France ceded to Spain all Louisiana west of the Mississippi, 
together with the island of Orleans. The Treaty of Paris was concluded on the loth 
day of February, 1763, by the terms of which Great Britain became possessed of the 
whole of New France, and all that portion of the province of Louisiana east of the 
Mississippi, except the town of New Orleans, and the island on which it was situated, 
which was reserved by France. The navigation of the Mississippi was to remain equally 
free to the subjects of Great Britain and France. 

fLanman's Michigan. 

:):Smith's History of Wisconsin^ Vol. I., 129, 



ii6 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN, 

straw thatching. Wheat was then sown in rows, and about this time 
corn was introduced under English jurisdiction. Peltries were at that 
time the chief circulating medium. 

England, previous to the war, had affirmed that the discoverer and 
occupant of a coast was entitled to all of the country contiguous to it. 
She had carried her colonial boundaries from sea to sea, but, as against 
France, had maintained the original charter limits of her colonies. But 
now that France had retired vanquished, the situation was materially 
changed, and she now began to see things in a new light. 

His majesty, George III., issued a royal proclamation on October 
7th, 1763, wherein he congratulated his subjects upon the great advan- 
tages that would naturally accrue to their trade, manufactories, and 
navigation, from the newly-acquired territory. His majesty then pro- 
ceeded to constitute four new governments, three of which were on the 
continent, and one in the West Indies. His territory on the Gulf he 
divided into East Florida and West Florida. The boundary line being 
the Appalachian river ; separating them from their possessions in the 
north by the 31st parallel from the Mississippi to the Chattahoochee, by 
that stream to its confluence with the Flint, by a straight line to the 
source of the St. Mary's, and then by the St. Mary's to the Atlantic 
ocean. The other government established by his majesty was the gov- 
ernment of Quebec. 

Among the first acts of England was the protection of the eminent 
domain of the government, and the restriction of individuals to acquire 
title to Indian lands. By his majesty's proclamation of 1763, the 
British governors were prohibited from issuing land grants, except 
within certain prescribed limits, and all private persons were forbidden 
the liberty of purchasing lands from the Indians, and of making settle- 
ments, without these prescribed limits. Notwithstanding this procla- 
mation, and within three years after its promulgation, a tract of country 
nearly one hundred miles square, including a large portion of northern 
Wisconsin, was claimed to have been purchased from the Indians by 
Captain Jonathan Carver,* and a ratification of his title solicited from 
the British crown. 

Similar to the "■ Carver Grant " was the purchase made by William 
Murray, in 1773, from the Illinois Indians, of several parcels of land, 
amounting to double the quantity of land embraced in " Carver's Grant," 
and known as the Illinois and Wabash Company's purchase. For these 
several purchases the Indians were paid more than ^^50,000 sterling, 
while the deeds were executed at places where solemn treaties were held, 
and every detail pertaining to the transfer of title was conducted in good 
faith between the contracting parties. Three noted crown lawyers, 

*It appears that the claims of Captain Jonathan Carver were not conceded by the 
king and council, and were finally rejected by the United States, when the claims were 
presented to congress asking for their confirmation. 



WISCONSIN UNDER ENGLISH RULE. 117 

Pratt, Yorke, and Dunning, two of whonri afterwards became lord-chan- 
cellors, gave their opinions in favor of the purchase. Notwithstanding 
the numerous attempts of the Illinois and Wabash Land Company to 
have their claims ratified by congress they were unsuccessful, as the 
king's proclamation of October 7, 1763, prohibiting individuals from 
purchasing lands from the Indians, has always been maintained by con- 
gress. 

As early as 1806, the United States instituted inquiries into the 
nature of the claims of the inhabitants of the northwest to lands in the 
territory of Michigan, of which Wisconsin is now a part. The able 
report of the commissioners on this subject embraced the titles to all 
the farms in six classes: 

The first class consisted of grants made by the French governors of 
New France and Louisiana, and confirmed by the king of France. 

The second class consisted of grants made by the French governors, 
and not confirmed by the king of France. 

The third class consisted of occupants by permission of the French 
military commanding officers, without confirmation or grant, and without 
written evidence of any permission, but accompanied by long and undis- 
turbed possession. 

The fourth class consisted of occupancies while France possessed 
the country, without permission, but accompanied by undisturbed pos- 
session. 

The fifth class was composed of similar titles, together with dis- 
tinguishments of native right by individuals, while the country belonged 
to Great Britain. 

The sixth class was composed of occupancies and extinguishments 
of native right by individuals, since the country belonged to the United 
States.* 

Of the latter class United States commissioners reported that there 
were Indian grants generally for a few hundred acres, though some 
were for five, ten, thirty, fifty, and even as high as one hundred thou- 
sand acres, but the policies and principles of the celebrated royal proc- 
lamation of 1763, and adopted by the United States government, 
determined all such grants and claims invalid. 

Another class embraced claims based on actual settlements and 
improvements, without other pretended title. This class included all 
the old claims to lands and lots at Green Bay and Prairie du Chien, 
which were afterwards approved and favorably reported on by the 
United States commissioners, and finally confirmed by the general 
government. 

After the Canadian provinces had been wrested from the crown of 
France, and the English power had extended over the west, a change 
came over the happy and peaceful homes of the French in New France 
*Smith's History of Wisconsin, Vol. I., 127. 



ii8 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

and Louisiana. The inhabitants Avere repugnant to English submission, 
their ancient and natural enemy, and many preferred to leave their 
quiet homes and fields, and seek new dwelling-places under the domin- 
ion of France, which was still maintained west of the Mississippi. In 
consequence the French settlements began to decline, and in order to 
prevent an almost abandonment of them, the English government 
assured the inhabitants that their religion, rights, and property, should 
be protected and remain inviolate under the dominion of Great Britain. 
Although many consented to remain, yet many retired to western 
Louisiana, and French settlements began to extend on the west side of 
the Mississippi, principally within the limits of the present state of 
Missouri. Here, under the Spanish authority exercised by the mild 
and paternal government of Spain, which differed not in many respects 
from that of France, their tranquil lives were not again disturbed, until 
the Americans began to approach the Mississippi. In 1803, a total 
change was effected in their social and political life, by the ceding of 
Louisiana to the United States.* 

In October, 1765, under orders of General Gage, Captain Sterling, 
of the British army, arrived by way of the Ohio, and established his 
headquarters at Fort Chartres, as commandant of the Illinois country, 
and commander-in-chief of the British forces in America. f 

At this time the French population of the whole Illinois country, 
from the Mississippi eastward to the Wabash, was about five thousand 
persons, including about five hundred negro slaves. Subsequent loss 
by emigration was not replaced by English settlers, and, in consequence, 
ten years later, the population of Kaskaskia was estimated at but little 
over one hundred families ; that of Cahokia, fifty families ; and of Prairie 
Dupont and Prairie du Rocher, each fourteen families ; these were the 
principal points of settlement in the country. Fort Chartres, afterwards 
called Fort Gage, was a stockaded fort, opposite the town of Kaskaskia, 
on the east bank of the Kaskaskia river. Cahokia was a small post on 
the bank of the Mississippi, about three miles below St. Louis. 

Puttman, who visited the Mississippi country in 1770, in speaking 
of the soil and productions of this region, says that a man in the Illinois 
country could have fed and lodged the year around for two months' 
work; one month in seeding time, the other in harvest. In 1769, one 
man furnished the king's stores from his crop, eighty-six thousand pounds 
of flour ;| and, the same year, one hundred and ten hogsheads of wine 
were produced from the native Illinois grape. § 

This highly productive portion of the northwest, under the new 
masters, for a series of years we find hardly or any account of improve- 
ments in Illinois, and still less in that portion of the country lying imme- 

*Stoddard's Louisiana. Martin's Louisiana. Monette, and authorities, 
f Smith's History of Wisconsin, Vol. I., 154. 
IPuttman's State of Eng. Sett, on the Miss., 43-55. 
§Hutchin's Top. Descr., 43. 



WISCONSIN UNDER ENGLISH RULE. 119 

diately west of Lake Michigan, as Green Bay in those days was sparsely 
settled, while the mythical fort and fortifications of Prairie du Chien 
were not then dreamed of.* 

The succession of authority to the English over the northwest did 
not bring with it the friendship of the Algonquin tribes in that quarter. 
The English were regarded by the Indians as intruders, and the long- 
cherished affection which the numerous tribes had for the French pro- 
duced an opposite feeling in them toward their new masters, the enemies 
of the great French father, which quickly ripened into the bitterest of 
hatred. 

The ink with which the celebrated Treaty of Paris was written was 
scarcely dry ere the hatred of Pontiac became manifest. Pontiac had 
conceived the great design of driving the English effectually from the 
country, by the destruction of their forts, which would deprive them of 
their possessions in the west, as well as be a great obstacle to their 
future advance on the waters of the northwest. His plan was to unite 
all the tribes in one grand confederacy, and simultaneously attack all 
the English posts, massacre the garrisons, take possession of the British 
strongholds, drive the British from the land, and secure the return of 
their old friends — the French. 

Abb6 Raynal, commenting on the characteristics of Pontiac, says : 
"A hundred traits of equal elevation had fixed upon Pontiac the gaze of 
the savage nations. He wished to reunite all his tribes for the purpose 
of making his territory and independence respected, but unforeseen cir- 
cumstances prevented the project. The terrible drama got up by this 
son of the forest stamps his name with greatness. The living marble 
and the glowing canvas may not embody his works, but they are identical 
with the soil of the western forest, and will live as long as the remem- 
brance of its aboriginal inhabitants — the Algonquins."f 

Without doubt, the league formed by Pontiac in his great undertak- 
ing was the most extensive which was ever formed upon the continent 
by any Indian chief. A large majority of the tribes inhabiting the region 
extending from the lakes, on the north, to the southern limits of Cali- 
fornia, thence west of this great frontier, back as far as the Mississippi, 
were engaged in it, through the influence of this great chief, who exer- 
cised the power of an absolute dictator, with all the magnetism and 
influence of an inspired leader. 

Pontiac had evinced great judgment and clearness of discrimination 
in his interviews with the astute Major Rodgers. He not only sought to 
inform himself of the discipline of the English forces, but inquired into 
the mode of manufacturing cloth and iron, and expressed a desire to 
visit England, and even offered a part of his country to the English 

*The old French fort and fortifications were not at Prairie du Chien or within the 
county of Crawford, but were a short distance below the mouth of the Wisconsin. Wis. 
Hist. Col., Vol. X., 307-320. 

f Smith's History of Wisconsin, Vol. I., 143. 



I20 



HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 



commander if he would take him there. He also stated to the EngHsh 
that he was willing to be in subordination to Great Britain, to pay an 
annual tax and call him uncle. In a mild way he intimated that he was 
also ready to encourage the settlement of the English in this country, so 
long as they treated him with due respect. But if they failed in this, 
he would ''shut up the way," and exclude them from the country. 

After Pontiac's plans had been well matured, he called a grand coun- 
cil of the warriors of the western tribes, the Miamis, Ottawas, Chip- 
pawas, Wyandots, Pottawatomies, Missagas, Shawanese, Outagamies, 
and the Winnebagoes. He made a powerful and eloquent appeal to 
them against the advance of the British power, and showed them the 
mystic belt, which he pretended the king of France had sent him. 
Taking advantage of the superstition characteristic of the Indians, he 
stated that the Great Spirit has appeared to a Delaware Indian, in a 
dream, and had mapped out the course which the Indians at this crisis 
should pursue. He further told them that the Great Spirit had forbid- 
den them to use ardent spirits; to cast away the manufactures of the 
white men; to return to the use of the skins of the wild beasts for cloth- 
ing, and to resume the use of their bows and war-clubs. He described 
the Great Spirit as having said, " Do you suffer those dogs in red coats 
to enter your country, and take the lands I have given to you ? Drive 
them from it — drive them, and when you are in trouble, I will help 
you."* 

The speech of Pontiac had its immediate effect, for he had 
appealed to the pride, interest and superstition of the savages. Belts 
of wampum and messages were sent to the Indians along the whole line 
of frontier, stretching more that a thousand miles on the lakes and 
rivers in the northwest, in order to secure their cooporation. No mili- 
tary commander ever displayed more skill, nor their troops exhibit 
more determined courage, than those red men of the wilderness in the 
prosecution of their plans for the recovery of their beautiful country 
from the possession of the English. It was a war of extermination on a 
large scale, where a few almost-destitute savage tribes arrayed them- 
selves in defense of their country and their homes against the colossal 
power of the nation that was then mistress of the world. This was a 
contest where human nature, in its plainest state, was the antagonist 
of wealth and civilization, and where the red man was obliged, through 
necessity, to call to his aid stratagem, treachery, revenge, and even 
cruelty against the innocent, the helpless and the unoffending. Such 
has always been the stern method of savage warfare, which knows no 
mercy to the feeble, the aged or the infant. All alike are doomed to 
the fate of the tomahawk and the scalping-knife. 

Shortly prior to the breaking out of the war, Pontiac secretly visited 
Wisconsin, and formed an alliance with the Milwaukee band, which was 

*Lanman's Michigan. Cass's Discourse. 



WISCONSIN UNDER ENGLISH RULE. 121 

composed of many different tribes, who were at all times refractory and 
turbulent. Before suspicion had been excited in the part of the 
English, the bloody frontier Indian war was upon them, in all its 
demoniac fury. 

In the month of May, the attack was made almost simultaneously 
on all the British posts, nine of which were captured or surrendered, 
namely: Ouiatenon, Green Bay, Michilimackinac, St. Joseph's, Miami, 
Sandusky, Presqu'isle, Le Boeuf, and Venango. Some of these were 
taken by open attack, others by stratagem and treachery, and in nearly 
all the people of the garrisons shared the usual fate of Indian victory. 
The taking of the posts at Presqu'isle, St. Joseph's and Michilimackinac 
was attended by a general slaughter of the garrison. Besides these 
posts which were now in the hands of the savages, not less than six 
other posts were beleaguered for many weeks, and some for months, 
until they were finally relieved by reinforcements from older settlements 
and from England. The principal beleaguered towns were Detroit, Cum- 
berland, Maryland, Legonier, Bedford, and London; the last three v/ere 
Pennsylvania posts. Most of these posts were reduced to the greatest 
extremities before relief reached them. Niagara was not attacked nor 
besieged. 

At the time of the Pontiac war in 1763, Tomah, the great chief of 
the Menomonees, was said to have gone to the commander at Green 
Bay, at the British fort, and told him of the great conspiracy of Pontiac, 
formed to take possession forcibly of all the British garrisons. He 
further said that if they (the English) would abandon their post and 
give up their arms, he would convey them in safety to Montreal. There 
were only about twenty men at the post in Green Bay, and these all 
surrendered their weapons to Tomah, with the exception of one Ser- 
geant Nobles, who was obstinate, saying that never would he yield up 
his gun to an Indian. This caused considerable parley, but Sergeant 
Nobles remained firm, and was finally permitted to retain his gun. 
Tomah then, in canoes, carried quietly and safely the white men to 
Montreal. 

Sergeant Nobles was highly praised for his dauntless courage, and 

although promotion was impossible, because of his family, his discharge 

was granted, and he settled down at his old trade ot shoemaking, and 

in a short time became immensely wealthy.* 

*This tradition, judging from Gorrell's Journal and Parkman's History of the Con- 
spiracy of Pontiac, cannot be regarded as reliable. It is certain that Lieutenant Gorrell 
and his men made no surrender of themselves or arms, and that the Menomonees, and 
others, conducted them to the village of L'Arbre Croche, in the region of Mackinaw, 
whence the Menomonees returned to Green Bay. But this tradition serves to confirm 
us in the belief that Tomah, or Carroy, was much older than represented by the inscrip- 
tion on his tombstone, and that he was a man of consequence during the border wars of 
1755 to 1763. In Gorrell's Journal, referring to the events of May i8, 1763, he speaks 
thus: "The chiefs (of the Menomonees) were much displeased at Carroy's getting a 
present from Mr. Gorrard of a fine suit of embroidered clothes. This Carroy was much 
thought of by the French." This refers undoubtedly to the noble Tomah, or Carron. 
His nobleness and generosity of character reflect real honor on the Indian race, and on 
the Menomonees especially. Wis. Hist. Coll.. Vol. II., 177. 



122 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

Shortly prior to Pontiac's great plan of attack, suspicions of the 
hostile intentions of the Indians were entertained, and in some instances 
information of the impending danger was given. Such information was 
given to Major Etherington, the commandant at Michilimackinac, by 
several Canadians who were not hostile to the Indians. Mr. Laurent 
Ducharme informed the major that a plan had not only been matured 
for destroying him and his garrison, but all the English in the upper 
country. The commander, believing that sucli reports had a tendency 
to do mischief, and that they were conceived by ill-disposed persons, 
expressed great displeasure against Mr. Ducharme, and even threatened 
to send the next person who should bring him a like story a prisoner to 
Detroit. At this time the garrison consisted of ninety privates, two sub- 
alterns, four English merchants, and the commandant. With this 
strength they entertained little anxiety concerning the Indians, who had 
no weapons but small arms. In the meanwhile the Indians were daily 
assembling at and in the vicinity of the post, in unusual numbers, but 
with every appearance of friendship, frequenting the fort every day, and 
disposing of their peltries in a manner not to create any suspicion. 

During the preceding year one Alexander Henry, who lived near the 
fort, was visited by a Chippewa, named Wa-wa-tam, who had previously 
visited his house, showing strong marks of personal friendship. Atone 
time he visited him accompanied by his whole family, bringing many 
presents of skins, sugar and dried meat, and begged Henry to accept of 
them, as he had dreamed of adopting an Englishman as a son and 
brother, and from the moment he first saw Henry he had recognized in 
him the person whom the Great Spirit had pointed out to him as a 
brother, and that he would always regard him as one of his family. The 
presents were accepted by Henry, who gave the Indian a present in 
return, and thereby cemented the tie of friendship and brotherhood 
between them. Wa-wa-tam then went on his winter hunt, and was not 
again seen by his adopted brother until the next year, two days before 
the time of the massacre at Michilimackinac, which occurred on the 
second day of June, 1763. 

Wa-wa-tam came to Henry's home, looking melancholy and thought- 
ful, and when Henry asked after his health, his Indian brother, without 
answering the question, told him that he was sorry to see that Henry 
had returned from Sault Ste. Marie ; that he intended to go at once from 
Michilimackinac to the Sault, and wished Mr. Henry and his family to 
start with him the next morning. He also inquired whether the com- 
mandant at the fort had heard bad news, remarking that he himself had, 
during the winter, frequently been disturbed with the noise of ^^ evil birds,'' 
and suggested that there were a great many Indians around the fort, man}- 
of whom never entered it. Henry told him that he could not go the Sault 
at that time, but would follow him there after the arrival of his clerks. 
Wa-wa-tam withdrew, but returned again the next morning, accom- 



WISCONSIN UNDER ENGLISH RULE. 123 

panied by his wife, and bringing a present of dried meat. He again 
expressed his fears concerning the numerous Indians around the fort, 
and earnestly urged Henry to depart with him for the Sault, stating as a 
reason that all the Indians intended to come in a body that day to the 
fort and demand liquor from the commandant, and that he wished to be 
gone before the Indians became intoxicated. Upon Henry's failing to 
comprehend the numerous hints, through the figurative speech of his 
Indian brother, and upon declining to go with him, Wa-wa-tam and his 
wife departed with dejected countenances, alone, after each had 
expressed their bitter disappointment. 

The next day. the 4th of June, was the birthday of King George III., 
made more memorable as the day on which the fort was surprised by 
stratagem, contrived by the restless and sagacious Pontiac, though he 
himself was near Detroit. In order to honor the occasion, and add to 
the festivities, it was proposed that an Indian ball play, called bagga- 
tiway, should be played between the Chippewas and Sacs, for a large 
wager, and in order to make the game more exciting Major Ethering- 
ton, the commandant, was to bet on the side of the Chippewas. Mr. 
Henry at this time expostulated with the commandant, and suggested 
that the Indians might have some sinister object in view. His caution 
and advice, however, were alike disregarded. The game of le-jeu-de-la 
crosse, or baggatiway, is played with bat and ball, two posts being 
planted in the ground, .each about a mile apart, each party having its 
post. The object is with a bat to propel the ball, which is placed in 
the center, toward the post of the adversary. During the contest, if 
the ball cannot be driven to the desired goal, it is struck in any direc- 
tion by which it can be diverted from the direction designed by the 
opposite party. In order to view this exciting game. Major Ethering- 
ton and most of the garrison were outside of the palisades. This cele- 
brated ball game soon developed the stratagem of the Indians, which 
resulted in the slaughter of the garrison. The ball game now opened, 
with the usual display of Indian hilarity, which was vastly appreciated 
by the British visitors from the garrison. Shortly, the ardor of the game 
became so great that the ball was batted over the pickets, and into the 
grounds of the fort, which occasioned the immediate and promiscuous 
rushing of the Indians within the palisades of the fort, in pursuit of the 
bail. In an instant, the great transformation scene burst forth with all 
its fury. 

Hardly were the Indians within the palisades, ere the war yells 
were heard, and the Indians were seen furiously cutting down and scalp- 
ing every Englishman within reach. Within a few moments heaps of 
dead and dying lay within and without the fort, scalped and mangled; 
while the dying were shrieking and writhing under the tomahawk and 
scalping-knives. The infuriated Indians then drank the blood of their 



124 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

victims, from the hoDows of their hands, amidst demoniac yells.* No 
less than seventy soldiers, together vv^ith Lieutenant Jemette, had been 
killed, while but twenty Enghshmen, including the soldiers, were still 
alive, f 

Those who escaped the general slaughter were within the fort, 
together with nearly three hundred Canadians, who belonged to the 
canoes. The Canadians around the fort at the time of the massacre did 
not oppose the Indians, nor did any of them get injured in the general 
slaughter. 

Ihe Green Bay fort had received an English garrison in 1761, con- 
jsisting of seventeen men, under the command of Lieutenant Gorrell. 
The garrison of Green Bay was saved from the fate of Michilimackinac, 
through the prudent conduct of the commandant, who had secured the 
good will of all the surrounding Indian tribes. This fort was abandoned 
by orders of Major Etherington. The garrison, with Lieutenant Gor- 
rell, was, upon its abandonment, escorted by a band of friendly Menom- 
onees to L'Arbre Croche, where they joined Major Etherington and 
the remnant of his command, who were still detained as prisoners. On 
the 1 8th of July they were liberated, and the whole party reached Mon- 
treal about the middle of August, by way of the Ottawa river. 

While Pontiac's plans and orders were being executed in the west, 
he was near Detroit devising a stratagem by which to get possession of 
Detroit, the accomplishment of which was only prevented by a gossiping 
Indian woman. La Mothe Cadillac founded Detroit in 1701. At the 
close of the French war, the military colony had grown to the number 
of about twenty-five hundred inhabitants. Within the limits of the set- 
tlements there were three large Indian villages; one a little below the 
fort on the west shore of the Detroit river, which at this point was nearly 
one-half mile wide; this was the village of the Pottawatomies; nearly 
opposite on the eastern shore were the lodges of the Wyandots, while 
on the same side, nearly two miles higher up, Pontiac's band of Ottawas 
had fixed their abode. Detroit was the most important of all the north- 
western posts, as it commanded an extensive region of navigation and 
trade upon the upper lakes, and stood almost at the gate of the western 
waters. 

The wily Pontiac well knew that the possession of this post would 
break the allegiance of the French inhabitants on the river, which was 
not strongly cemented in favor of their new masters, and form a chain 
of operations for the savages, from Lake Michigan to Buffalo and Pitts- 
burgh. Pontiac's forces consisted of two hundred and fifty Ottawas, 
one hundred and fifty Pottawatomies, fifty Wyandots, two hundred 
Ojibways under Wasson, and one hundred and seventy under Sekahos, 
in all eight hundred and twenty warriors. J 

*Lanman's Michigan. Henry's Travels. 
f Smith's History of Wisconsin, Vol. I., 138. 
:j;Smith's History of Wisconsin, Vol. I., 139. 



WISCONSIN UNDER ENGLISH RULE. 125 

At this time Detroit was garrisoned by one hundred and twenty-two 
men and eight officers, and commanded by Major Gladvvyn, who had 
succeeded Captain Campbell.* 

The cunningly-devised stratagem of Pontiac was to gain admission 
to the fort for the pretended purpose of holding a council with the com- 
mandant. His chiefs and a few selected warriors were to accompany 
him to the conference, with their rifles concealed beneath their blankets, 
and at a given signal, which was a belt of wampum to be delivered b}^ 
Pontiac, during the course of his speech, to Major Gladwyn. At this 
critical moment, the Indians were to open fire on the officers in the 
council chamber, rush upon the troops, and open the gates of the fort 
to the warriors on the outside, who were to cooperate with those 
within. In order to carr}^ his plan into execution, he camped at a short 
distance from Detroit and, on the 8th day of May, 1763, sent word to 
Major Gladw3^n that he and his chiefs were desirous of holding a council 
with him, in order to "brighten the chain of peace." Major Gladwyn 
appointed the next day for the council meeting. In the meantime, 
Pontiac had his warriors file off their gun-barrels, so as to readily 
conceal them under their blankets. 

It was during the evening of the 8th of May, that an Indian woman, 
who had been making moccasins for Major Gladwyn, brought to him 
her work, and by her unwillingness to depart from the fort, excited the 
curiosity of Major Gladwyn, who called the woman to him and asked 
her the object of her strange conduct. The Indian woman, feeling 
grateful to the major for his kindness to her, disclosed to him the 
details of Pontiac' s stratagem, and how he desired to surprise the fort 
and massacre the garrison. The woman was assured of her safety, and 
a reward promised her for her fidelity, then permitted to depart. On 
the following day, at ten o'clock, Pontiac and his selected warriors, with 
their weapons concealed beneath their blankets, were admitted to the 
grounds of the fort and conducted to the council room by Major Glad- 
wyn, who had taken the necessary precaution to frustrate the Indian 
strategem. When Pontiac, in the course of his speech, arrived at that 
point when the belt of wampum should be delivered. Major Gladwyn 
and his officers half drew their swords, while the soldiers within and 
without the council room made a "martial clatter with their fire- 
arms." This so disconcerted Pontiac that his signal of attack was not 
given, while his chiefs and warriors looked at each other with amaze- 
ment. Major Gladw^m then addressed Pontiac, and reproached him for 
his premeditated treachery, and informed him that the English could 
not be surprised by the Indians, as they had knowledge of all things. 
While Pontiac was attempting to deny the charge of treachery, Major 
Gladwyn raised the blanket of the warrior next to him, and exposed the 
hidden rifle with its shortened barrel. The council was then broken up, 

*Cass's Discourse. 



126 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

and Pontiac and his chiefs left the fort. As soon as safely out of the 
palisades, they instantly set up their yells of defiance and fired at the 
stockades. 

The savages now stationed themselves behind the buildings, which 
were scattered outside the pickets, and from these places kept up a con- 
tinual fire on the British within the grounds and fortifications. The fort 
was now regularly invested, and Pontiac demanded the British to sur- 
render it; to lay down their arms and march out, as the French had pre- 
viously done. Upon the English refusing to surrender, Pontiac renewed 
his attacks with increased vigor, and so persistent were they that, for 
weeks, neither the officers nor men within the fort were allowed to take 
off their clothes to sleep, being almost constantly engaged about the 
ramparts. Every Indian stratagem that was possible was devised and 
put into operation to take the fort, while small detachments scoured the 
country in every direction and intercepted all aid intended for the garri- 
son. The strong detachment sent from Niagara for the relief of the fort 
was entirely cut off, while the provisions, arms, and ammunition which 
they brought were captured by the Indians. Floating fire-rafts were 
also constructed and sent against two English vessels lying in the river, 
which were only saved from the flames with the greatest difficulty. 
Scenes of unparalleled barbarity were daily perpetrated in the vicinity of 
the fort, and it was a matter of frequent occurrence for the garrison to 
see the dead and mangled bodies of their countrymen floating past, as 
every family and individual in the neighborhood, without the palisades, 
were murdered in a horrible manner, and theirhabitationsdestroyedby fire. 

In July, Captain Dalyell, with a reinforcement of three hundred and 
sixty regular troops, arrived in safety at the fort from Niagara. These 
reinforcements arrived on the 2gth of July, and in the evening of the 
30th, a sortie was made by two hundred and forty-seven chosen men 
from the fort, commanded by Captain Dalyell, against the Indian forti- 
fications, about a mile from the fort. They were met by a concealed 
fire from the Indian breastworks, which was accompanied by a furious 
assault, and notwithstanding the bravery and resistance of the troops, 
and their determined charge against unforeseen foes, in the darkness of 
the night, they were compelled to retire to the fort, fighting their way as 
they retreated. 

During this short contest nineteen men were killed, among whom 
was Captain Dalyell, while forty-two of the brave soldiers were wounded. 
In August, some of Pontiac's allies became disheartened by the fruitless 
length of the siege, and retired to their homes, but Pontiac perseveringly 
remained, and continued to annoy the garrison until the spring of 1764. 

General Bradstreet arrived at Detroit* in the month of June, 1764, 
with a force of three thousand men, for the purpose of compelling peace, 

*The post of Detroit was environed by three rows of pickets forming nearly a 
square. At each corner and over the gates there were erected blockhouses; and 
between the houses and pickets there was a circular space, called le iheiniti da ro)uU, 



WISCONSIN UNDER ENGLISH RULE. 127 

and forming alliances with the various tribes of the northwest. Brad- 
street had already concluded peace, at Niagara, with twenty-two tribes, 
eleven of which were northwestern tribes. Upon the arrival of the 
English forces at Detroit the tribes of Pontiac, with the exception of 
the Delawares and Shawanese, concluded a treaty of peace. Pontiac, 
however, took no part in the peace negotiations. The stubborn old chief 
soon after retired to the Illinois, where, in 1767, he was killed by a 
Peoria Indian.* The Ottawas, Pottawattamies, and other northern 
tribes, united to avenge his death, and nearly exterminated the Illinois 
tribe, t 

Captain Jonathan Carver entertained projects and views which, if 
they had been carried into effect, undoubtedly would have been bene- 
ficial to the early colonists, as well as the mother country. His ambi- 
tion was to acquire, by close observation and exploration, an accurate 
know^ledge of the vast territory in the northwest which had so recently 
come into the hands of Great Britain. He proposed to correct all inac- 
curate maps and charts of the country, and gain a knowledge of the man- 
ners, customs and language, of the people that inhabited the country 
west of the Mississippi. He also contemplated ascertaining the 
breadth of the vast continent from the Atlantic to the Pacific, in its 
broadest part, between 43° and 46'' north latitude. To accomplish 
these highly-commendable results, he proposed to assume the character 
of a trader, as well as traveler. In September, 1765, we find him at the 
post of Michilimacklnac, entering into his great enterprise. At this 
place he was supplied with the proper assortment of goods by Colonel 
Rodgers, the commandant, and proceeded by way of Green Bay and the 
Fox and Wisconsin rivers, to Prairie du Chien, where he arrived on the 
15th of October, 1766. 

At the time Carver was at Fort La Baye, at the mouth of the Fox 
river, which was on September 18, 1766, there was no garrison there, 
nor had it been maintained since its abandonment by Lieutenant 
Gorrell, in 1763. A few families were living in the fort, while opposite, 
and on the east side of the river, there were a few French settlers who 
cultivated the land and lived in comfort. | 

Carver, while proceeding up the Fox river, arrived at what is now 
known as Doty's Island, at the east end of Lake Winnebago. Here he 

which formed a place of deposit for arms. Anchored on the river, in front of the town, 
were two armed vessels, one called the Beaver, for the purpose of its defense; and the 
fort was protected by three mortars, two six-pounders and one three-pounder. These, 
however, were badly mounted, and seemed to be better calculated to terrify the Indians 
than for substantial defense. In the limits of the town there were about forty-two 
traders and persons connected with the fur trade, who were provided with provisions 
and arms, besides the few families who were settled within the palisade. Most of the 
houses were inclosed within the pickets, for the purpose of securing them by the pro- 
tection of the fort, while only a few French farms were scattered along the banks of the 
river. Cass's Historical Discourse. 

*Monette, Vol. I., and authorities. 

fParkman, Lanman, Nicollet. Cited by Smith's History of Wisconsin, Vol. I., 143. 

:j:Carver's Travels. 



128 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

found the great town of the Winnebagoes, over which tribe an Indian 
queen held the chief power. The island and land adjacent to the lake 
were exceedingly fertile. The Indians raised great quantities of Indian 
corn, beans, pumpkins, squash, watermelons, and some tobacco. The 
Indians treated Carver with the greatest hospitality during the few days 
he remained with them. Their town at this place contained about fifty 
houses, strongly built and palisaded. Another town, belonging to the 
same nation, but smaller, stood about forty miles higher up the river. 
At this period the Winnebagoes could raise about two hundred warriors. 
Carver, while going down the Wisconsin river, stopped at the great vil- 
lage of the Saukies, situated where Prairie du Sac is now located. He 
extravagantly describes the Indian town as a great mart for furnishing 
provisions to traders, and that lead was so plentiful that large quantities 
of it were lying about the streets. He also states that he visited a lead 
region about fifteen miles to the south, and ascended one of the moun- 
tains, where he had an excellent view of the surrounding country. This 
was at the Blue Mounds evidently, as the locality is described with con- 
siderable accuracy. 

On September 3, 1783, the second Treaty of Paris was signed, 
wherein the United States was acknowledged free, sovereign and inde- 
pendent. 

At the end of the war, which led up to this treaty, England was 
unwilling to surrender all of the northwest. The Revolutionary War, 
which followed, was succeeded by Indian disturbances and riots, which 
were kept up until Wayne's victory of the Fallen Timbers, in 1794.* 

Thirteen years had passed, since the treaty of 1783, before the stars 
and stripes were raised over Detroit and the adjacent country. This 
was at last accomplished on the nth of July, 1796, although some 
authorities claim that it was not until 1815 that the United States was 
triumphant, by the Treaty of Ghent. 

*Hinsdale's Old Northwest, 184. 



> j^/ A-i j^^y i^l-.iid^'Ui 



f. ^ 





'^& 






i' 



ivj4-A-W-i;^J^^ 




Chapter XIX. 
THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. 

Conquering the Old Northwest. — Its Gradual Transition. 

The treaty of peace, made in September, 1783, was not accom- 
panied by the immediate surrender of the British posts to the American 
authorities. Considerable recrimination occurred between the two 
governments, each accusing the other of flagrant violations of certain 
articles of the treaty. More than ten years of diplomatic controversy 
intervened, on both sides of the Atlantic, before the disputes were set- 
tled. This was finally done by Jay's treaty in 1794. In the inter- 
mediate, the British retained possession of the posts on the American 
side of the Great Lakes, which gave their possessors a great influence 
over the warlike Indian tribes in their neighborhood. The year of 
1784 had nearly passed away before the United States government was 
aware that the British cabinet had determined not to evacuate the 
western posts. The reason assigned for the detention of these posts on 
the lakes was the hostile temper manifested by the Indians. It soon 
became apparent that the cessation of hostilities with England was not 
necessarily the end of the warfare with the Indian tribes. The gov- 
ernment was obliged to submit to the indignity of permitting a 
foreign power to maintain garrisons within her limits, as well as to 
ineffectually cope with the horrors of border warfare in the west. 

Virginia, as early as October, 1779, had by law discouraged all 
settlements on the part of her citizens northwest of the Ohio;* but the 
prospects of peace, together with the growing spirit of land speculation, 
soon became stronger than the law, and it now became the great debat- 
able question, in what manner to throw open the great region lying 
westward of the mountains without making the Indians more desperate. 
Washington, in a letter to James Duane, who was a member of congress 
in 1783, writes with reference to the difficulties which were then before 
that body, in relation to the public lands, and pointed out to congress 
the necessity for making the settlements compact, and suggested that it 
should be made a felony to settle or survey lands west of a line to be 
designated by congress, which line might extend from the Great Miami 
to the Mad river, thence to Fort Miami on the Maumee, thence north- 
ward, so as to include Detroit, and possibly from the fort down the 
river to Lake Erie.f 

Washington also proposed other stringent measures for the preser- 
vation and tranquility of the northwest, but before congress could take 
any effectual steps in that direction, it was necessary that the great 
measures of cession, which were commenced in 1780-81, should be 

*Rev. Stat, of Va. 

f Sparks' Washington, Vol. /III., 477. 



I30 



HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 



completed. On the 13th day of September, six days after the receipt 
of this letter, congress stated the terms upon which they would receive 
the proposals of the "Old Dominion" for its cession to the United 
States all of the territory northwest of the Ohio river. 

General Washington, in July, 1784, sent Baron Steuben to Canada for 
the purpose of taking possession of the western posts, under the treaty of 
1783, with orders, if he deemed it advisable, to form the French of 
Michigan into a militia, and place the fort at Detroit in their hands. 

The baron was received by Sir Frederick Haldimand with great 
politeness, but was informed by Sir Frederick that he had received no 







The Territory of the Present 
UNITED STATES 

OURINdTHE FBtNCM-IMOlAW WARS.' 
I7JJ - /70J 



orders to deliver up the posts along the lakes, and, consequently, 
refused to grant the necessary transports. At this time the numerous 
tribes scattered along the northwestern territory were greatly alarmed 
at the prospect of the advance of the white population, and, as a 
natural result, were daily becoming more uneasy and dissatisfied. The 
true ground of the existing differences between the Indians and the 
United States was purely a question of boundary. The Indians main- 
tained that the boundary line was the Ohio river, and was not to be 
crossed by the Americans, and as the Indians had not been included in 
the treaty between Great Britain and the United States, it became a 
legal question how far the United States had a right to advance upon 
the territory then occupied by the Indians. The rights of the Indians 
appear to have been wholly ignored by both of the contracting parties 
at the time the treaty was made. The posts in Michigan, withheld 



THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. 131 

from the possession of the United States, were Detroit and Michih- 
mackinac. Great Britain, in order to the more effectually guard against 
the incursions of the Americans, took immediate measures to garrison 
the fort at Detroit. 

In December, 17S6, a grand council of the Indians northwest of the 
Ohio was held near the Huron village at the mouth of the Detroit river, 
and was attended by six nations of the Indians — the Hurons, Ottawas, 
Miamis, Shawnees, Chippewas, Cherokees, together with the Delawares, 
Pottawattamies, and the confederates of the Wabash. At this council 
it was determined to call a grand council of the Indians, in which the 
whole ground of complaint between the Indians and the United States 
should be discussed and, if possible, determined. The grand council 
was held, and although no records of the proceedings are extant, yet the 
belief exists that the records were forwarded to Lord Dorchester, the 
governor of Canada. It is thought that there was a division among 
them in their deliberations, because two separate treaties were held at 
Fort Harmar in January, 1789, which were attended only by part of the 
Indians. These treaties were held by General St. Clair, first with the 
Five Nations, with the exception of the Mohawks, and second with the 
warriors and sachems of the Wyandot, Delaware, Ottawa, Chippewa, 
Pottawattamie, and Sac tribes.* These treaties were intended to be in 
good faith on the part of the savages who made them, but were broken 
in a short time by the confederacy of northern Indians, which had been 
formed by the noted Mohawk chief, Thayendanega, or Brant. The 
confederates exhibited their deeply-seated hatred and hostility to the 
Americans, and their subsequent defeats of Harmar and St. Clair not 
only created new confederacies in themselves, but spread terror over 
the whole frontier, and caused the deepest anxiety in the councils of the 
nation. 

One of the first important acts of Governor St. Clair, upon his 
appointment to his new position as governor of the Northwest Territory 
in October, 1787, was the Fort Harmar treaties, consummated in Janu- 
ary, 1789. One of these treaties the confederate nations of the lakes 
especially refused to acknowledge as binding. In referring to the 
rejected treaty, the great council, held in 1793, used the following lan- 
guage: "Brothers, your commissioner (General St. Clair), after 
having been informed by the general council of the preceding fall that 
no bargain or sale of any part of these Indian lands would be considered 
as valid or binding, unless agreed to by a general council, nevertheless 
persisted in collecting together a few chiefs of two or three nations only, 
and with them held a treaty for the cession of an immense country, in 
which they were no more interested than as a branch of the general con- 
federacy, and who were in no manner authorized to make any grant or 
cession whatever. Brothers, how then was it possible for you to expect 

*Lanman's Michigan, 149-151. 



.132 



HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 



to enjoy peace, and quietly hold these lands, when your commissioner 
was informed, long before he held the treaty of Fort Harmar, that the 
consent of a general council was absolutely necessary to convey any part 
of these lands to the United States? " 

Masas, a noted Chippewa chief, at the treaty of Greenville in 1795, 
referring to the treaty at Fort Harmar, said: "Elder brother, I was sur- 
prised when I heard your voice, through a good interpreter, say that we 
had received presents and compensation for those lauds, which were 
thereby ceded. I tell you now, that we, the Three Fires, never were 
informed of it. If our uncles, the Wyandots, and grandfathers, the 
Delawares, have received such presents, they have kept them to them- 
selves. I always thought that we, the Ottawas, Chippewas and Potta- 
wattamies, were the true owners of those lands, but now I find that new 




The Territory of the Preseul 
UNITED STATES 

ArTER FEBRUARY 10 . 1763 



masters have undertaken to dispose of them; so that, at this day, we do 
not know to whom they rightfully belong. I don't know how it is, but 
ever since that treaty, we have become objects of pity, and our fires 
have been retiring from this country." 

The fact appears to be that the confederate nations, as a whole, did 
not sanction either of the Fort Harmar treaties, although the Wyandots 
and some other tribes acknowledged its binding force. 

The status of affairs between the Indians and the United States, 
prior to the Ordinance of 1787, appears to have stood thus : When hos- 
tilities ceased between England and the United States, England made 
no provision for the Indians, but transferred the northwest to the United 
States without any stipulation respecting the rights of the natives. The 



THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. 133 

United States, regarding the lands of the hostile tribes as conquered 
and forfeited, proceeded to grant them portions of their own land. 
This produced discontent, and led to the formation of the great confed- 
eracy headed by Brant. After the treaty of Fort Harmar, transfers of 
territory had been made by the Iroquois, Wyandots, Delawares, and 
Shawnees, which were scarcely objectionable, but the Chippewas, 
Ottawas, Kickapoos, Weas, Piankeshaws, Pottawattamies, Eel River 
Indians, Kaskaskias, and especially the IMiamis, were not bound by any 
existing agreement to deliver up lands lying north of the Ohio. The 
confederated tribes had forbidden the treaty of Fort Harmar, and had 
warned General St. Clair that it would not be binding on the confed- 
erates. They desired that the Ohio should be a perpetual boundary 
between the white and red men of the west, and would not sell a rod of 
land hing north of that line. This feeling had grown so strong that the 
young men could not be restrained from waging warfare upon the invad- 
ing ''long knives,''' and attacking the frontier stations throughout the 
northwest. It was with reason that Washington expressed great doubts 
as to the justness of an offensive war being waged upon the tribes of the 
Wabash and Maumee, and, in speaking of these tribes, he sa3-s : "In 
the exercise of the present indiscriminate hostilities, it is extremely 
difficult, if not impossible, to say that a war without further measures 
would be just on the part of the United States."* 

In 1785, Brant went to England to solicit aid for his confederacy. 
He reminded the English authorities of their forgetfulness of their allies, 
the Indians, the gradual encroachment of the Americans, and the prob- 
able consequences — war; and asked England's cooperation in repelling 
the farther advancement of the Americans. He received from the 
British minister an evasive and non-committal answer, and returned 
home, wdiere he met the confederated natives in November, 1786. At 
the council then convened, he informed them that he had received no 
distinct assurances of aid from England, but the Indian superintendent, 
John Johnson, and Major Matthews, the commandant at Detroit, in 
their correspondence with Brant, gave him flattering assurances of 
countenance and protection in his hostile movements against the 
Americans. Major Matthews, in May, 1787, writes to Brant, with the 
apparent sanction of Lord Dorchester, the governor of Canada, in which 
he says, "In your letter to me you seem very apprehensive that the 
English are not very anxious about the defeiise of the posts. You will 
soon be satisfied that they have nothing more at heart, provided that it 
continues to be the wish of the Indians, and that they remain firm in 
doing their part of the business by preventing the Americans from com- 
ing into their country, and consequently from marching to the posts. 
On the other hand, if the Indians think it more for their interests that 
the Americans should have possession of the posts, and be established 

*American State Papers. Vol. V., 97. 



134 



HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 



in their country, they ought to declare it, that the Enghsh need no 
longer be put to the vast and unnecessary expense and inconvenience of 
keeping posts, the chief object of which is to protect their Indian allies, 
and the loyalists who have suffered with them. It is well known that 
no encroachments ever have, or will be, made by the English upon the 
lands or property of the Indians, in consequence of possessing the 
posts; how far that will be the case, if ever the Americans get into 
them, may easily be imagined from their hostile perseverance, even 
without that advantage, in driving the Indians off their lands, and taking 
possession of them.*" 




BOUNDARIES 



UNITED STATES, CANADA, AND 
THE SPANISH P0SSESSION3- 



accordcno to the pdoposai. op the couat 
of.Fh;m<ce, 1 



With such assurances on the part of the British authorities in 
America, together with the malign influence of such characters as Simon 
Girty, Alexander McKee, and Mathew Elliot, who had sunk to the lowest 
depths of humanity, it is not a matter of surprise that the hostility of 
the confederated natives was engendered and kept alive, and only wait- 
ing for a favorable moment to break forth with all its terrible fury. 
General Washington, in the spring of 1790, being desirous of learning 
the real sentiments of the northwestern Indians, through Governor 
St. Clair, sent Anthony Gamelin in April, 1790, to hold conferences 
with several tribes of the northwest. He arrived at the point where the 
Miamis, Shawnees and Delawares resided, and, on the 23d and 24th of 
April, he assembled the Indians into a grand council which lasted many 

*Stone's Brant, Vol. II., 2.71. 



THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. 135 

days. Gamelin gave each nation two branches of wampum, and made 
them a speech in the presence of the French and Indian traders, who 
were invited to attend the conference; but, with all of his sagacity, 
the council's deliberations amounted to naught, as the Shawnees and 
Delawares delivered him back his wampum, while Le Oris, the great 
Miami chief, told him he might go back when he pleased; that he would 
not give him a positive answer until all the Lake nations, together with 
the Detroit commandant, had been consulted. On the 8th of May, 
Gamelin returned to Fort Knox, and, on the nth of May, news was 
received that the northwestern savages had gone upon the warpath 
against the Americans. 

The United States government now adopted a course towards the 
tribes of the northwest which was no longer peaceable. Governor 
St. Clair, by virtue of authority granted by congress, by the act of Sep- 
tember 29, 1789, and in pursuance of an order of the president, dated 
October 6th, called on Virginia for one thousand, and on Pennsylvania for 
five hundred militia. The call was made July 15, 1790, and the forces 
were distributed as follows: Three hundred were to meet at Fort Steuben 
(Jeffersonville) to aid the troops from Fort Knox (Vincennes) against 
the Weas and Kickapoos of the Wabash. Seven hundred were to 
gather at Fort Washington (Cincinnati), and five hundred below Wheel- 
ing. The latter two parties intended to cooperate with the troops from 
Fort Washington, under General Harmar. About the middle of Sep- 
tember, the troops began to arrive at Fort Washington from Kentucky 
and Pennsylvania. They were ill-equipped, destitute of camp equipage, 
and with arms wholly unfit for service; among them were old men and 
young boys hardly able to bear arms, many of whom had never fired a 
gun, while the numbers which came were short of what had been ordered. 
To all these disadvantages were added numerous disputes, which arose 
among them in selecting their officers; many of the militia declaring that 
they would return home, unless certain individuals were elected to com- 
mand them. On the 30th of September, General Harmar left Fort 
Washington, with a force of one thousand, four hundred and fifty-three 
men, and in due time arrived within thirty-five miles of the Miami 
villages. 

On the 14th of October, the detachment pushed forward and, on 
the morning of the 17th, arrived at the deserted Maumee towns, which 
they destroyed, together with about twenty thousand bushels of corn. 
This work of devastation lasted until the 21st of October. General 
Harmar then designed to push forward and attack the Wea and other 
Indian settlements upon the Wabash, but was prevented by the loss of 
pack-horses and cavalry horses, which the Indian had stolen in conse- 
quence of the carelessness of the owners. Dropping the plan of the 
march on the Wabash towns. General Harmar sent Colonel Trotter, 
with three hundred men, to scour the woods in search of the enemy, as 



136 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

tracks of women and children had been seen near by; but the want of 
energy in the officers, and the entire lack of discipline in the army, 
rendered the expedition fruitless. The party returned to camp in the 
night, after having discovered and killed two mounted Indians, who 
were thought to be sentinels. The next day, General Harmar sent out 
another expedition in search of the enemy, under Colonel Hardin. 
This force found where the Indians camped the night before, and, 
shortly before dusk, the enemy's camp-fires were seen in the distance. 
The same inefficiency, on the part of the commanding officer, as well as 
his force, made success a failure; as they were easily drawn into an 
ambush, and only escaped after a heavy loss, and were compelled to 
retreat. The jealousy existing between the regular troops and the 
militia became so great that success was an impossibility, and the army 
commenced its homeward march late in October, 1790. 

Colonel Hardin, not feeling easy -after his defeat, prevailed upon 
General Harmar to send a detachment of three hundred and forty 
militia back to the villages, under the belief that the Indians had 
returned. The detachment under Colonel Hardin, consisting of militia, 
and the regulars, commanded by Major Wyllys, reached the banks of 
the Maumee, early in the morning of the 22d of October, where the 
spies reported that the enemy was discovered. According to the plan 
of attack the enemy was to be surrounded, and the battalions were to 
support each other, or to mass as occasion required, but in no case to 
separate. The attack commenced with unusual vigor. The Indians 
fled in different directions, while the militia, in disobedience of orders, 
pursued them in the various directions. The regulars, being thus 
unsupported, fell an easy sacrifice to the Indians. Thus General 
Harmar's disastrous campaign closed. A campaign from which was 
expected so much, and resulted in so little. The failure of General 
Harmar's expedition, immediately followed by the attack of the Indians 
on the new settlements on the Ohio, prompted the government to take 
decisive and strong measures whereby a peace should be obtained by 
force of arms, or secured by prudent negotiation. 

The plan adopted by the general government was threefold, (i) 
to send a messenger to the western Indians, to be accompanied by 
Iroquois chiefs, with offers of peace; (2) to organize expeditions in the 
west to strike the Wea, Miami, and Shawnee towns, in case that the 
peace messenger should fail in his mission, and (3) to prepare an over- 
whelming force with which to take possession of the country of their 
enemies, and build forts in their midst.* 

Colonel Thomas Proctor was selected as the peace commissioner, 
and left Philadelphia on March 12, 1791. At Corn Planters' settlement 
he secured the services of certain Iroquois chiefs to accompany him on 
his mission. The mission proved a failure, as the British commandant 

*American State Papers, Vol. XIII., 36. 



THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. 137 

at Niagara would not allow any English vessel to be hired to convey the 
ambassadors up Lake Erie. General Scott, of Kentucky, was commis- 
sioned to make war upon the Miamis; Governor St. Clair was to invade 
and take possession of their lands, while Colonel Pickering was to hold 
a peace council, for the purpose of burying the hatchet, and establishing 
permanent peace.* 

The policy adopted by the United States is fully explained in the 
instructions of President Washington, through the secretary of war, 
General Knox, which is in the following language: "An Indian war, 
under any circumstances, is regarded by the great mass of people in the 
United States as an event which ought, if possible, to be avoided. 

* * * The sacrifices of blood and treasure in such a war far exceed 
any advantages which can possibly be reaped by it. The great policy, 
therefore, of the general government is to establish a just and liberal 
peace with all the Indian tribes within the limits and in the vicinity of 
the territory of the United States. * * * g^jj- jf ^n ^j^g lenient 
measures taken, or which may be taken, should fail to bring the hostile 
Indians to a just sense of their situation, it will be necessary that you 
should use such coercive means as you shall possess for that purpose. 

* * * If the Indians refuse to listen to the messengers of peace sent 
to them, it is most probable they will, unless prevented, spread them- 
selves along the line of frontiers, for the purpose of committing all 
depredations in their power. To avoid so calamitous an event, Briga- 
dier-General Charles Scott, of Kentucky, has been authorized to make 
an expedition against the Wea or Ouiatanon towns, with mounted vol- 
unteers, or militia, not exceeding the number of seven hundred and fifty, 
officers included. * * * j^ jg confided to your discretion whether 
there should be more than one of the said expeditions of mounted volun- 
teers, or militia. * * * j\ll captives are to be treated with great 
humanity. It will be sound policy to attract the Indians by kindness, 
after demonstrating to them our power to punish them on all occasions. 

* * * If no decisive indications of peace should have been produced, 
you will commence your march for the Miami village, in order to estab- 
lish a strong and permanent military post at that place. * * * fhe 
Indians continuing hostile, you will seek the enemy, and endeavor by all 
possible means to strike them with great severity." 

No news of peace being received, General Scott's command moved 
on the Wabash towns, and arrived on June i, 1791. The Indian villages 
were abandoned upon the approach of the army, although slight skir- 
mishing occurred at several points. The village of Ouiatanon, wherein 
lived many French settlers in a state of civilization, was destroyed. 
This place was in close connection with and dependent on Detroit. 
Scott's expedition only succeeded in destroying the settlements of the 
enemy, together with a half-dozen warriors, and took fifty or sixty pris- 

*Smith's History of Wisconsin, Vol. I., 191. 



138 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

oners. The}- returned without having reached the higher towns on the 
Wabash, which occasioned Governor St. Clair to dispatch a second 
expedition, under Colonel Wilkinson, against the villages on Eel river. 
This expedition was devoid of any greater results than the Harmar and 
Scott expedition. A few Indian villages were burned, growing corn cut 
up, settlements destroyed, a few Indians killed, and some taken pris- 
oners. No victory had been gained over the Indians, no strong posts 
had been established in their midst, while the tranquility of the frontier 
was apparently as far distant as ever. 

Governor St. Clair, having received instructions from the general 
government, proceeded to organize his army, and, on the 15th of May, 
1791, he arrived at Fort Washington. At this time, the whole United 
States troops in the northwest amounted only to two hundred and sixty- 
four non-commissioned officers and privates, fit for duty. By the 17th 
of September, the army had been increased, by the arrival of recruits, 
to twenty-three hundred strong, exclusive of the militia. The army 
then commenced its march, and at the Great Miami built Fort Hamilton, 
the first fort in that great chain of fortifications. After its completion, 
they moved forty-four miles farther, and commenced Fort Jefferson, on 
October 12th. The troops again resumed their march on the 24th of 
October, and, on November 3d, they were on a branch of the Wabash, 
which General St. Clair thought to be the St. Mary or the Maumee. 
Upon the banks of this creek, the army, now reduced by desertion and 
sickness to fourteen hundred strong, encamped in two lines.* 

Early upon the morning of the 14th of November, just as the men 
had been dismissed from parade, the Indians made an attack on both of 
St. Clair's lines, driving the militia into camp, thereby throwing the reg- 
ulars into disorder. The general ordered a bayonet charge, which drove 
the Indians back for a time, but they soon rallied and renewed the 
attack with increased vigor. St. Clair's camp was entered by the left 
flank, and the troops driven in. Successful charges on the enemy were 
repeatedly made, with a loss of many men and officers. The artillery 
was soon silenced, all of the officers except one being killed, while half 
of the army had fallen. A retreat was now ordered, which soon became 
a flight. The camp and artillery were abandoned, as not a horse was 
left with which to draw off the guns. Arms and accoutrements were 
thrown away by the retreating army, even after pursuit had ceased. The 
Indians followed the fleeing army about four miles, while the fugitives 
continued their flight until they reached Fort Jefferson, a distance of 
twenty-nine miles, which place they reached a little after sunset. 

St. Clair's defeat was exceedingly disastrous. It was in its effect a 
second Braddock's defeat. The hopes of Washington, Knox, and 
St. Clair were overthrown in this unfortunate, but brief campaign. The 
causes which led to so fatal a termination of the expedition were at a 

*American State Papers, Vol. V., 136. 



THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. 



39 



subsequent period fully inquired into by a committee of the house of 
representatives, which expressly declared General St. Clair free from all 
blame, both before and during the flight. The true causes of the defeat 
appeared to be that the militia and soldiers were surprised and out- 
generaled by the savage forces, who were led with ability and valor, and 
in no recorded battle did the savages ever show themselves better 
warriors. It is said that one thousand Indians were engaged in this 
battle,* while St, Clair's forces did not exceed fourteen hundred. 
Thirty-eight commissioned officers were killed during the battle, and five 
hundred and ninety-three non-commissioned officers and privates were 
slain and missing ; while twenty-one commissioned officers and two hun- 
dred and forty-two non-commissioned and privates were wounded, many 
of whom died. 

The exigencies of the times demanded that a new army be immedi- 
ately raised, and from the list of general officers recommended to com- 
mand the army, President Washington selected Major-General Anthony 
Wayne. It was the desire of Washington, that before the government 
resorted to the last extremity, every effort should be made to prevent 
bloodshed. Authorized agents were sent into the Indian country, and 
extended invitations to the different nations to send their representatives 
to Philadelphia, to meet the congress in session, and shake hands with 
their newly-adopted father. The great Mohawk chief, Brant, visited 
the federal capital, and was received with marked attention, as were also 
the fifty Iroquois chiefs who visited the City of Brotherly Love, and, 
although the United States commissioners, Lincoln, Randolph, and 
Pickering, met the confederated tribes of the northwest with their 
English friends at the rapids of the Maumee, still conciliatory measures 
were found to be impracticable. The Indians ever insisting that the 
Ohio should be the boundary between themselves and the encroaching 
Americans, and strenuously and rightfully maintained that the treaty of 
peace between England and the United States gave the latter no title to 
the Indian lands north of the Ohio. The last great council, held at the 
suggestion of Washington and his advisers, before General Wayne com- 
menced operations, was at the foot of the Maumee rapids, on August 
i3> 1793- There were present the chiefs of the following tribes: Seven 
Nations of Canada, Wyandots, Pottawattamies, Senecas, Shawnees, 
Cherokees, Miamis, Ottawas, Messasagoes, Chippewas, Munsees, Mohi- 
cans, Connoys, Delawares, Wantakokies, and Creeks. 

The assurance that England gave to her confederates was the send- 
ing of Governor Simcoe, during the month of April, 1794, to erect a fort 
at the rapids of the Maumee, within the acknowledged territory of the 
United States, which was not only built and fortified, but its commander 
afterwards nearly came to hostilities with General Wayne. General 
Wayne had been using all exertions to bring an army into the field, 

♦Smith's History of Wisconsin, Vol. I., 195 ; Perkins', 371. 



I40 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

qualified to grapple with the British, its Indian allies, and their Spanish 
sympathizers. 

General Wayne's army, having passed the winter of 1792-93 at 
Legionville, moved down the river in May, 1793, to Fort Washington, 
where it encamped and engaged in drilling. It was here that General 
Wayne waited for the result of the pending negotiations between the 
American commissioners and the Indians, which took place on the i6th 
of August, at the mouth of the Detroit river. General Wayne received 
information, from three distinct channels, that the peace negotiations 
were a failure, and accordingly, on the 7th day of October, with his 
army,left Cincinnati, and on the 13th encamped at a strong position, 
selected by him, about six miles in front of Fort Jefferson. This camp 
he fortified and named Fort Greenville. This place was afterwards 
noted for the great peace treaty that was concluded there. At Fort 
Greenville the army wintered, and while there performed the solemn 
and humane duty of taking possession of the field of St. Clair's defeat. 
They arrived on this unfortunate spot on Christmas day, and gathered 
up and buried, it is alleged, six hundred skulls, and when they went to 
lie down in their tents at night, "we had to scrape the bones together 
and carry them out, to make our beds,"* said an eye-witness. At this 
place, Fort Recovery was built and garrisoned. 

Previous to Wayne's going into winter-quarters at Greenville, one 
attack only had been made by the savages. This was on the 17th of 
October, when a detachment of ninety men, commanded by Lieutenant 
Lowry and Ensign Boyd, who were conducting a quantity of military 
stores, was attacked by a large force of Indians, seven miles from Fort 
St. Clair. After a severe skirmish, during which both officers were 
killed, the detachment retreated to Fort St. Clair, leaving thirteen of its 
dead on the field, and abandoning seventy horses and the stores in 
twenty-one wagons to the mercy of the Indians. 

During the early part of 1794, General Wayne was steadily engaged 
in making preparations to strike a decisive and effectual blow at the 
proper time. He organized a spy company, which was very efficient 
and performed valuable services, keeping him continually informed of 
the plans and movements of the savages. The British were still 
encouraging their red friends with the promise of aid and assistance, as 
appears from the testimony of two Pottawattamies, who were taken 
prisoners by Captain Gibson, of the spy company, in June, 1794. Their 
answers to various questions asked them, are as follows: "The British 
had sent three chiefs — a Delaware, a Shawnee, and a Miami — to invite 
the Pottawattamies to go to war with the Americans. The British 
were on their way to war against the Americans: the number of their 
troops at Roche de Bout, for that purpose, was four hundred, with two 
pieces of artillery, excli|sive of the Detroit militia. They had made a 

*Dillon's Indiana, Vol. I., 360; Am. State Papers, Vol. I., 458. 



THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. 141 

fortification around Colonel McKee's house, and stores in which they 
had deposited all their stores of ammunition, arms, clothing and provi- 
sions, which they promised to supply to all the hostile Indians in 
abundance. The British troops and militia that will join the Indians 
to go to war with the Americans will amount to fifteen hundred, agree- 
ably to the promise of Governor Simcoe, who will command the whole. 
The British and the Indians will advance against the Americans about 
the last of this moon, or beginning of next."* 

Little Turtle, at the head of one thousand or more warriors, made 
an assault on the 30th of June, on Fort Recovery, the advanced Ameri- 
can post, and, although repelled, the assailants repeatedly returned to 
the charge, and kept up a continual attack the whole of that day and a 
part of the following. Nor was this attack made without the encourage- 
ment and assistance of the British, as General Wayne, in his dispatch, 
says, "that his spies report a great number of white men with the 
Indians; and that they insist there were a considerable number of armed 
white men in the rear, who were frequently heard talking in our lan- 
guage, and encouraging the savages to persevere in the assault; that 
their faces were generally blacked, except three British officers who 
were dressed in scarlet, and appeared to be men of great distinction, 
from being surrounded by a large body of white men and Indians, who 
were very attentive to them. These kept at a distance in the rear of 
those that were engaged." In this attack, the American loss was 
reported at twenty-five killed and missing, together with thirty wounded. 
General Wayne was joined at Greenville, on the 26th of July, by 
General Scott, with sixteen hundred mounted men from Kentucky. The 
united forces moved forward on the 28th of July and, on the 8th of 
August, the army was near the junction of the Au Glaize and the 
Maumee, and proceeded to build Fort Defiance, where the rivers meet. 
While engaged in this work, Wayne received daily full and accurate 
accounts of the Indians and their maneuvers; he learned the nature of 
the ground, the strength of the enemy, as well as the spirit and disposi- 
tion of his troops, both officers and men, and determined to march for- 
ward and settle matters at once. On the 13th of August, he sent 
Christopher Miller, who had been adopted by the Shawnees, and taken 
prisoner by Wayne's spies, as a special messenger, offering terms of 
friendship and peace, f Two days later, the troops moved forward, and 
met Miller returning with a message requesting that the Americans 
would wait ten days for the Indians to decide for peace or war. Wayne 
continued his march without regard to the message, and, on the i8th of 
August, the little army had advanced forty-one miles, and were now in 
the vicinity of the long looked-for foe. Here they threw up light works, 
called Fort Deposite, wherein to place their heavj' baggage during the 

^Am. State Papers, Vol. V., 489. 
f Am. State Papers, Vol. I., 490. 



142 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

expected battle. Early in the morning of the 20th, the American forces 
moved down the north bank of the Maumee, with Major Price's bat- 
talion of volunteers in the advance. When they had proceeded about 
five miles, Price's forces received a severe fire from a concealed enemy, 
which compelled them to retreat and form in two lines in a thick woods. 
The enemy now formed in three lines, within supporting distance of each 
other, their left flank resting on the river, while the main line extended 
nearly two miles at right angles, resting in a dense thicket of brushwood. 
The extended front was intended by the enemy to outflank the left of the 
American line. General Scott was ordered to advance with trailed arms, 
drive the Indians from their cover with the bayonet, and when routed, 
to deliver a well-directed fire upon their backs, and follow it up with a 
brisk charge. The orders were obeyed with alacrity. The impetuosity 
of the charge was so great that the Indians and Canadians were driven 
from cover so rapidly that only a part of the second line of General 
Scott's mounted battalion could gain their position, in order to take an 
active part in the battle. The Indians were driven through the thick 
woods and fallen timbers for a distance of more than two miles, in the 
course of an hour. The Indian force and their allies was estimated at 
about two thousand, while the troops under General Wayne, who were 
actively engaged, did not exceed nine hundred. The woods for a con- 
siderable distance were strewn with the dead bodies of the Indians and 
their white allies, the latter being armed with British muskets and bayo- 
nets. The loss of the American army in this decisive battle was com- 
paratively small. The total loss of killed and missing, including eleven 
who died of their wounds, was forty-four. The whole number of 
wounded was one hundred. This battle was fought in view of the British 
post, and was the most decisive battle ever fought with the western 
Indians. The Americans camped for three days on the banks of the 
Maume6; the troops burned all of the houses, and destroyed all property 
of every kind belonging to the Indians and Canadians, together with 
the house and store of the British agent, McKee. General Wayne 
reconnoitered the fort and defenses, and even advanced with his staff 
within range of the British guns. This gave rise to the heated corre- 
spondence between Major Campbell, the British commandant, and General 
Wayne. General Wayne's name, the ' 'Black Snake, " as the Indians called 
him, became a terror to the western Indians, for they looked upon him as 
"a. chief who never slept, and whom no art could surprise." 

The army returned to Fort Defiance, having laid waste all the 
adjacent country, where it arrived August 27, 1794. The fort defenses 
having been completed, the line of march was taken up for the Miami 
villages. At the junction of the St. Joseph and St. Mary rivers, forty- 
seven miles above Fort Defiance, General Wa3me erected another 
stockade fort, which was completed by the 23d of October, and named 
Fort Wayne, in honor of the brave commander-in-chief of the expedi- 



THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. 143 

tion. The cavalry and a greater portion of the infantry set out, on 
October i8th, from Fort Wayne to Greenville, and on their vv^ay a 
detachment was left at Loramie's Creek, seventy miles from Fort Wayne, 
where it erected Fort Loramie. On the 20th of November, the regular 
troops went into winter-quarters at Greenville. 

The campaign of 1794 put a close to the Indian hostilities in the 
northwest. The spirit and power of the savages had been greatly sub- 
dued by General Wayne's vigorous campaign; their country had been 
ravished wath fire and sword, their homes and fields destroyed, and 
their supplies consumed. Numerous chiefs of the various tribes were 
now inclined to sue for peace, and, within a short length of time, the 
peace sentiment was almost general among the nations. Contributing 
to this long-looked-for and desirable result, may be considered the fact 
that the red men were disappointed at the conduct of their white allies — 
the British — after their defeat on the 20th of August by General Wayne. 
Even the old-time British friend. Brant, said a fort had been built in 
their country with the pretense of giving them a refuge in case of neces- 
sity, but when that time came, the gates were closed against them as 
though they were enemies. The fertile fields of the savages having 
been devastated by Wayne, the savages were wholly dependent on the 
mercy of the British, who did not half supply them; their cattle and 
their dogs died, while they themselves were nearly starved. Thus they 
lost faith in the British, and, by degrees, made up their minds to sue 
for peace. The savages exchanged prisoners with General Wayne 
during the winter, and made preparations to meet him, in June, at 
Greenville. 

Peace messengers from the Chippewas, Ottawas, Sacs, Pottawatta- 
mies, Miamis, Delawares, Wyandots and Shawnees, met at Greenville 
on the 24th day of January, 1795, and entered into preliminary articles 
with the commander-in-chief to enter into the great council to be held 
during the following summer. 

At the treaty of Greenville, held on the 3d of August, 1795, there 
were present 1,130 chiefs and warriors of the several tribes and nations of the 
Wyandots, Delawares, Shawnees, Ottawas, Chippewas, Pottawattamies, 
Miamis, Weas, Eel Rivers, Kickapoos, Piankeshaws, and Kaskaskias. 
This great peace document was signed by eighty-four chiefs, represent- 
ing these various tribes, and by General Wayne, the sole commissioner 
on the part of the United States. These articles of peace were laid 
before the United States senate, on December 9th, and were ratified on 
December 22d, and thus terminated the old Indian wars of the west. 

"By the third article of this treaty, certain lands were relinquished 
to the United States by the Indians, and among them the only portions 
west of Lake Michigan are : one piece of land six miles square at the 
mouth of the Chicago river, emptying into the southwest end of Lake 
Michigan, where a fort formerly stood; one piece twelve miles square at 



144 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

or near the mouth of the IlHnois river, emptying into the 
Mississippi ; one piece six miles square at the old Peoria's fort and vil- 
lage, near the south end of the Illinois lake on said Illinois river." 

"By the fourth article of the treaty, in consideration of the cessions 
and relinquishments aforesaid, the United States relinquished their 
claims to all other Indian lands northwestward of the river Ohio, east- 
ward of the Mississippi, and westward and southward of the great 
lakes, and the waters uniting them, according to the boundary line 
agreed on by the United States and the king of Great Britain in the 
treaty of peace made between them in the year 1783. But from this 
relinquishment was excepted 150,000 acres near the rapids of the Ohio, 
which had been assigned to General Clark for the use of himself and his 
warriors ; the post of Vincennes on the river Wabash, and the lands 
adjacent, of which the Indian title has been extinguished; the lands at 
all other places in possession of the French people and other white 
settlers among them, of which the Indian title has been extinguished, 
as mentioned in the third article ; and the post of Fort Massac, toward 
the mouth of the Ohio ; to all the above the tribes relinquish all their 
title and claim." 

" By the fifth article of the treaty, it was provided : That, to pre 
vent any misunderstanding about the Indian lands relinquished by the 
United States in the fourth article, it is now explicitly declared that the 
meaning of that relinquishment is this, the Indian tribes who have a 
right to those lands are quietly to enjoy them, hunting, planting and 
dwelling thereon, so long as they please, without any molestation from 
the United States; but when those tribes, or any part of them, shall be 
disposed to sell their lands, or any part of them, they are to be sold only 
to the United States; and until such sale, the United States will protect 
all the said Indian tribes in the quiet enjoyment of their lands, against 
all citizens of the United States, and against all other white persons 
who intrude upon the same. And the said Indian tribes again acknowl- 
edge themselves to be under the protection of the United States, and no 
other person whatever." 

Great Britain, by the treaty of 1783, relinquished to the United 
States all of the territory on the east side of the Mississippi, from its 
source to the 31st parallel of north latitude, which was to be tho north 
boundary of Florida. This treaty relinquished all the previous rights of 
Great Britain to the free navigation of the river to its mouth, which she 
had derived from previous treaties with France and Spain. The United 
States, therefore, justly claimed the free navigation of the river to its 
mouth. 

Great Britain had ceded to Spain all the Floridas, comprising the 
territory east of the Mississippi, and south of the southern limits of the 
United States. Spain, therefore, possessed all of the territory on the 
west side of the river, and Florida on the east. Consequently, the 



THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. 145 



Mississippi river for the last three hundred miles flowed wholly within 
the dominions of Spain. His Spanish majesty, therefore, claimed the 
exclusive right to the use of the river below the southern limit of the 
United States. The United States, in reference to the free navigation 
of the Mississippi, claimed a natural right independent of any claims 
derived through Great Britain. The American people occupied and 
exercised dominion over the whole eastern portion of the Mississippi 
valley, including all of the country drained by its great eastern tribu- 
taries, together with the east bank, as far south as the northern limit of 
Florida. This gave them the natural right to follow the current of this 
great river to the sea, a right which has been established by the laws of 
all civilized nations. Such was the status of affairs between the Spanish 
government and the United States, which meant concession on the part 
of Spain, or war the only alternative. For the whole west there was but 
one outlet, and that was through the province of Louisiana, by way of 
the port of New Orleans. The western people had, after the treaty of. 
1783, begun to command as a right the free navigation of the Mississippi. 
Spain, during her occupancy of both banks of the Mississippi river below 
the Ohio, in 1786, maintained at least four military posts on the eastern 
bank of the Mississippi, and exacted and collected heavy duties on all 
imports by way of the river from the Ohio region. These duties were 
both arbitrary and unjust, and every boat descending the river was com- 
pelled to land and submit to exorbitant revenue exactions. Governor 
Miro, upon entering upon the duties of his office as governor of the 
province of Louisiana, in 1787, resolved, with the approval of Don 
Gardoqui, the Spanish minister to the United States, to relax the import 
and transit duties on the river trade from the western settlements. 
Governor Miro, however, only succeeded in granting privileges of free 
trade to favored individuals. By virtue of this treaty, signed October 
20, 1795, the boundaries, as defined between the territories of the United 
States and Spain, were as follows: The middle of the Mississippi river 
was to be the western boundary of the United States, from its source 
to the 31st parallel of north latitude. It was also agreed that the whole 
width of said river, from its source to the sea, was declared free to the 
people of the United States. The people of the United States, accord- 
ing to the terms of the treaty, were permitted for the term of three years 
to use the port of New Orleans as the place of deposit for their produce 
and merchandise, with the privilege to export the same, free from all 
duty. 

The treaty of Madrid, made March 21, 1801, between France and 
the king of Spain, ceded Louisiana to France, with all of her interests 
therein. The consideration for which was the establishment of the 
Prince of Parma, son-in-law of the king of Spain, as ruler in Tuscany. 
In January, 1803, President Jefferson sent a message to the senate, 
nominating Robert R. Livingston and James Monroe ministers to the 



146 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

court of France, and Charles Pinckney and James Monroe ministers to 
the Spanish court. 

Our ministers were instructed to secure, if possible, the cession of 
New Orleans and the Floridas to the United States. On the loth day 
of January, 1803, Mr. Livingston proposed to Napoleon's minister to 
cede to the United States, not only New Orleans and Florida, but all of 
Louisiana above the Arkansas river. On the nth of April, Talleyrand 
suggested the cession of the whole of the French dominion in North 
America, and asked how much the United States would give for it. 
Napoleon I., in an interview with the American minister, frankly con- 
fessed his inability to retain Louisiana. Bonaparte further declared, 
*'he was compelled to provide for the safety of Louisiana before it 
should come into his hands, and he was desirous of giving the United 
States a magnificent bargain — an empire, for a mere trifle." He sug- 
gested that a fair consideration would be 125,000,000 francs. 

James Monroe arrived at Paris on the 12th of April, 1803, and 
negotiations were immediately renewed for the purchase of that vast 
territory. The American commissioners had, in good faith, exceeded 
their instructions, and although unauthorized, the president at once 
acquiesced in the purchase, and accordingly convened congress, which 
met on the 17th of October. The treaty was laid before the senate and 
ratified on the 21st of the same month, and, on the 20th day of Decem- 
ber, the province of Louisiana was officially delivered over to Governor 
Cairborne, of Mississippi, and General Wilkinson, who were empowered 
to assume the government. The consideration for this vast tract of 
valuable country was that the United States should pay 60,000,000 
francs, in interest-bearing bonds, at six per cent, interest, non-redeem- 
able for fifteen years, after which time to be paid in three equal install- 
ments annually, the interest payable in Europe. To this transfer, Spain, 
at first, vigorously objected, as she alleged, on '-solid grounds;" but 
early in 1804, waived her objection to the purchase. 

The United States, in 1803, as we have seen, became possessed of 
the great valley of the Mississippi to the exclusion of any foreign power, 
limited, however, by the Spanish possessions in Mexico, on -the west 
and southwest, and in the Floridas on the southeast. The Indian title 
to the land in this vast region only remained to be extinguished. The 
British posts in the northwest were evacuated and delivered up to the 
Americans in 1796, under previous treaties and stipulations. The 
Northwest Territory, in those days, contained few white settlements 
beyond the present state of Ohio. The present state of Michigan was 
within the county of Wayne, which was constituted August 7, 1789, 
with General Arthur St. Clair as its first governor. 

On May 7, 1800, the territory was divided, and excluded the 
boundaries of Ohio as then defined. The new territory of Indiana 
embraced all the remainder of the Northwest Territory, including, on 



THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. 



147 



the east side of the Mississippi, the present states of Indiana, Illinois, 
Michigan, and Wisconsin, together with the territory of Minnesota. On 
the west side of the Mississippi river, the Pacific ocean alone was the 
limit of the possessions of the United States. 




Chapter XX. 

EARLY SETTLERS AND SETTLEMENTS. 
Green Bay. 1634-1830. 

Green Bay Discovered by Nicollet.and Settled by the Langlades. — French Expeditions. — 
Rendezvous at the Bay. — De Villiers Shot by Young Blackbird. — Fort Howard 
Erected. — Prominent Settlers. 

During the summer or autumn of 1634, Jean Nicollet and his com- 
panions beached their canoes on the shores of Bay de Noquet, the north- 
ern arm of Green Bay, and it was more than twenty years thereafter 
before the early fur-traders from Montreal and the Jesuits visited Green 
Bay. In 1669, Father Allouez established a mission at Green Bay, or 
Depere,* which was subsequently called St. Francis Xavier. The date 
of the first fortification at Green Bay, called St. Francis, is unknown. 

In 1671, Father Marquette laid the foundations of the fort at Mack- 
inaw, and, shortly after this period, fortified posts were established at 
Green Bay, Chicago, St. Joseph, Sault St. Mary, and Detroit. Tonti 
had command of the Green Bay fortifications in 1680, and had a small 
detachment of men under him. He was succeeded by Lieutenant 
Du Lhut, who also had a small troop under his command. This post 
was a dependency of Mackinaw, as it was both easily and speedily 
reinforced from the fort. 

It was on May 16, 1673, that Louis Joliet and Father Marquette, 
with their small retinue, embarked from Green Bay on their vo)'age up 
the Fox, and down the Wisconsin, which resulted in the discovery 
of the upper Mississippi river. They returned to Green Bay, by way of 
the Illinois and Chicago rivers, the latter part of September, 1673. 

Hennepin and Du Lhut, during the fall of 1680, reached the Jesuit 
mission near Green Bay, where they passed the winter. It was during 
the winter of this year that La Salle made his journey on foot from Fort 
Crevecoeur, on the Illinois river, to the Green Bay mission. 

In 1687, the Foxes, Kickapoos and Mascoutins formed a conspiracy, 
and plundered the French fort at Green Bay; they burned the French 
chapel, and carried off or destroyed everything of value. 

The first large body of white men that reached Wisconsin was the 
celebrated expedition headed by De Louvigny, consisting of eight 
hundred men. They left Quebec on the 14th day of March, 1716, and 
came to Green Bay for the avowed purpose of exterminating the 
Foxes, t 

The expedition which was organized by M. De Lignery, consisting 
of four hundred Frenchmen, together with nine hundred Indians, left 
Montreal on June 5th, 1728, for the extirpation of the Foxes and their 

*The authorities indicate that the mission St. Francis Xavier was established at 
Depere, and not at Green Bay. 

fWis. Hist. Mag., 97. 



I50 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

allies, and reached Green Bay about the 20th of August. Green Bay- 
was made the base of operations, while De Lignery and his allies were 
devastating the Indian villages in the Fox river valley country.* 

In 1746, Captain De Villiers, or De Velie, was in command of the 
garrison, but about the time he was relieved b}^ a new commandant, he 
was shot by Blackbird, a young Sac, at the palisaded town of the 
Sacs, nearly opposite the old fort. The garrison was withdrawn 
shortly before the breaking out of the French war, in 1754. 

In the 3^ear 1745, a permanent settlement was established at Green 
Bay by Sieur Augustin de Langlade and his family, accompanied b}^ a 
few settlers. With Augustin de Langlade came his son-in-law, M. 
Souligny, and his Avife; they were shortly joined by M. Caron,who spent 
the remainder of his days there. Lamiot, a blacksmith, shortly after 
came; then the little colony consisted of about eight persons. 

Captain Belfour, of the Eighth regiment of British infantry, arrived 
at Green Bay on October 12, 1761. He was accompanied by Lieutenant 
Gorrell, one sergeant, a corporal, fifteen privates, and a French inter- 
preter. They were also accompanied by two English traders, one named 
McKay, from Albany, and the other Goddard, from Montreal. The post, 
afterwards called Fort Edward Augustus, was, upon the return of Cap- 
tain Belfour on the 14th of October, 1761, left in charge of Lieutenant 
Gorrell, with seventeen men under him, who busied themselves during 
the winter in repairing the fort. 

The Green Bay post was abandoned by Lieutenant Gorrell on the 
26th day of June, 1763. At this time Gorrell, his gariison and the 
English traders, with a strong guard of friendly Indians, joined Captain 
Etherington, the former commandant, at Mackinaw, on the 30th of June, 
at an Ottawa village about thirty miles from Mackinaw. During the 
next forty years Green Bay made no progress in its growth, as in 1785 
there were but seven families there, who, with their engagees, traders, 
etc., did not exceed fifty-six. The heads of these families were Charles 
de Langlade, Pierre Grignon, Sr., Laqral Baptiste Brunet. At this 
time all the residences, except those of Brunet, Laqral and Joseph Roy, 
were on the east side of the river, while all the trading, which was 
carried on by Mr. Grignon and Marchand, Avas on the same side. 

In 1791, Jacques Porlier, from Montreal, located there. General 
Ellis, speaking of Green Bay in the early days, says, "Of all men of 
French origin at the Bay when I arrived there in 1822, Judge James 
Porlier stood foremost." 

In 1792, a very singular and noted character named Charles Raume 
took up his residence at the Bay. "He long held the office of justice 
of the peace, and it has often been said that no person could tell when 
his official duties first devolved upon him, nor from whence his authority 
was derived. But it appears reasonably certain that his first commis- 

*Wis. Hist. Mag., 99-100. 



EARLY SETTLERS AND SETTLEMENTS. 151 

sion was derived from the British authorities at Detroit, before the sur- 
render of that post in 1796, and that he subsequently received a similar 
commission from General Harrison, governor of Indiana Territory. 
Many amusing anecdotes are related of the manner in which he dis- 
charged his official duties, and it is well authenticated that the only proc- 
ess of the court was the judge's jack-knife, which served at once as the 
token and authority by which all defendants were brought under juris- 
diction. In 1818, he was appointed one of the associate justices of the 
court, by Governor Cass, and in the same year moved to Little Kaukalin, 
about ten miles above Green Bay, where he died in 1822." * 

In 1794, the trading house of Ogilvie, Gillespie & Co. was 
established, which gave place, three years later, to the trading house of 
Jacob Franks, of which the noted John Lawe afterwards became pro- 
prietor. Many settlers came here from Canada, during the last decade 
of the past century, among whom were John Lawe, who arrived in the 
summer of 1797. In 1812, the total population had increased to about 
two hundred and fifty. 

Among the most prominent families not heretofore mentioned were 
Duchana, Gravel, Chevalier, Chalifoux, Houlrich, Franks, Brisbon, 
Vieau, Cardrone, Dousman, Carbounsau, Vaun, Houll, Jacobs, Garriepy, 
Bauprez, Ducharme, Langevin, Hyotte, Norman, Lavigne, Bonneterre, 
Boucher, Le Bceuf, Thebeau, Dumond, Fortier, La Rock, Jourdin, and 
Laurent Solomon Juneau. 

The Hon. Moses M. Strong, in his excellent History of Wisconsin 
Territory, in speaking of 'the early traders and their dealings with the 
Indians, says : " It is a great mistake to suppose that the Indians — at 
least those of any character — took what they pleased and kept no 
account with the natives. As to Judge Lawe's practice, the Indians, on 
taking his credit in the fall, high or low, each individual had an account 
bona fide, opened with him on his books; as formal and precise in all 
respects as the sharpest white man, in which he was debited his blanket, 
Stroud, calico, powder, shot, thread, pipes, tobacco and flints, as care- 
fully as possible. On his appearance in the spring with his peltries, he 
was duly credited with payment, not in the gross, nor by the lump, but 
every skin was counted, separating the prime from the poor, and each 
kind from the other with exactness, with different prices, according to 
value, so that the Indian knew exactly how his account stood." 

The first saw-mill built in Wisconsin was in 1809. This was erected 
by Jacob Franks, on Devil river, about three miles east of Depere. 
Shortly after this, he erected a grist-mill with one run of stones. The 
next mill erected in this vicinity was a saw-mill, built in 1816, by the 
United States government at Little Kaukalin. The year previous, the 
government sent John Bowyer, of Virginia, to Green Bay to reside as 
Indian agent, and Matthew, of Pennsylvania, as factor. At this time 

*Strong's History of Wisconsin. 



152 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

there were no mechanics at Green Bay, except Augustin Thimbeau, a 
carpenter, and the indispensable village blacksmith. 

Major Charles Gratiot, of the United States engineer corps, had 
previously prepared quarters for officers and soldiers, and on the i6th 
day of July, 1816, Colonel John Miller, in command of a detachment of 
troops, which required three schooners to transfer them, accompanied 
by Major Gratiot, landed with his troops on the west side of the Fox 
river, at its junction with the bay. The troops pitched their tents near 
where they shortly after erected Fort Howard. Colonel Miller returned 
to Detroit during the fall, leaving the post and troops in charge of 
Colonel Chambers. 

Colonel Joseph L. Smith, the commandant in 1820, removed his 
troops two miles and a half up the river, where, on an eminence on the 
right bank, he built a stockade and barracks, which was named Fort 
Smith. Colonel Smith was superseded in command by Colonel Ninian 
Pinkney, in the fall of 1822. Shorty after taking command he moved 
the troops back to Fort Howard, which had been fully repaired, and 
thereafter this was the rendezvous for all the troops and army operations 
of that portion of the northwest. Colonel Pinkney, in the fall of 1823, 
was succeeded by Colonel John McNeill, who, the following year, was 
himself relieved by General Hugh Brady. 

" Shanty Town, " the little nondescript village, just below and in 
front of the old stockade, grew and thrived during the time that Colonel 
Smith occupied the camp. It had three stirring, energetic traders, 
Robert Irwin, Jr., Daniel Whitney, and William Dickinson. Daniel 
Whitney, it is said, was the most enterprising trader in the northwest. 
They each built stores and residences. 

The early history of Green Bay would be incomplete without mention- 
ing the names of those sturdy pioneers, Henry S. Baird and Judge James 
D. Doty. Mr. Baird removed to Green Bay with his wife in 1824, and 
shortly after erected a dwelling and lived at " Shanty-town." A little 
later. Judge Doty built a fine residence just above the town. About 
this time the first jail and courthouse west of Lake Michigan were 
erected here. Mr. Baird, in his "Recollections," says: "There were, 
in 1824, at Green Bay but six or eight resident American families, and 
the families of the officers stationed at Fort Howard, in number about 
the same. The character of the people was a compound of civilization 
and primitive simplicity, exhibiting the light and lively characteristics of 
the French and the thoughtlessness and improvidence of the aborigines. 
Possessing the virtues of hospitality, and the warmth of heart unknown 
to residents of cities untrammeled by the etiquette and conventional 
rules of modern "high life," they were ever ready to receive and enter- 
tain their friends, and more intent upon the enjoyment of the present 
than to lay up stores, or make provision for the future. * * * They 



EARLY SETTLERS AND SETTLEMENTS. 153 

deserve to be remembered, and placed upon the pages of history as the 
first real pioneers of Wisconsin." * 

Another noted character who lived at Green Bay was Laurent 
Solomon Juneau, who, in i8i8, was detailed by the American Fur Com- 
pany as clerk for Jacques Vieau, an Indian trader located at Mackinaw. 
From about this time up to 1834, Green Bay became the home of 
Jacques Vieau and Solomon Juneau. f 

In May, 1820, Ebenezer Childs arrived at Green Bay. He was a 
carpenter, and about twenty-three years of age. The next year this 
venturesome young man went to St. Louis in a bark canoe, by way of 
the Fox and Wisconsin rivers, and returned by the Illinois and Chicago 
rivers. In 1825, John P. Arndt and family came to Green Bay. In 
1827, Childs and Arndt built a saw-mill on the Oconto river. The 
same year, Mr. Childs, with a son of Judge Arndt, went to southern 
Illinois, where they bought two hundred and sixty-two head of cattle, 
and succeeded in driving two hundred and ten to Green Bay in safety. 
Mr. Childs held several offices of trust during his residence here. He 
moved to La Crosse, where he continued to live the remainder of his 
life. 

The Green Bay mission school, devoted principally to the educa- 
tion of the children of the poor, was established in 1829 by the Protest- 
ant Episcopal church, and was placed under the care of the Rev. Rich- 
ard F. Cadle. This was the first permanent resident missionary of the 
Episcopal church west of Lake Michigan. The legislative council, on 
October 21, 1829, incorporated the first Protestant church west of Lake 
Michigan, and it was known as Christ church. The first newspaper 
printed within the present boundaries of the territory now constituting 
the state of Wisconsin was published at Green Bay, by J. V. Suydam 
and Albert G. Ellis, and was called "The Green Bay Intelligencer." 
It bore date nth of December, 1833. It was published semi-monthly, 
and the subscription price was $2 per annum. It was twelve by eigh- 
teen inches, and contained four pages with four columns in each page. 
After the twentieth issue, there was added to its title the words, ''Wis- 
consin Democrat." 

In 1830, a Roman Catholic church was erected here and a school 
building, which was placed in charge of Father Gabriel Richard. 
Father Richard was afterwards elected a delegate to congress for Mich- 
igan territor)^ An Indian agency was also fixed at this place, during 
the year 1830, and placed in charge of Major Brevoort. General A. 
G. Ellis came to Green Bay in September, 1822. Much of his time was 
devoted to teaching school, and performing services in the Episcopal 
church, as a lay reader. In 1827, he was appointed deputy United 
States surveyor, and for many years was largely engaged in surveying 

*Wis. Hist. Coll., Vol. IV., 197. 
fWis. Hist. Coll., Vol. XI., 224. 



154 



HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 



public lands. Ten years later, he was appointed by President Van 
Buren surveyor-general of Wisconsin and Iowa. In 1842-43, he was 
speaker of the territorial legislature. In 1853, upon the establishment 
of the land-office at Stevens Point, he was appointed receiver of public 
moneys, and removed to that place, where he has ever since resided. 

Morgan L. Martin, who was one of Green Bay's most esteemed 
citizens, came to that town in 1827, and believed then, as he did at the 
time of his death, which occurred on December 10, 1887, that Green Bay 
is the most desirable location in the northwest. Mr. Martin became a 
lawyer of distinction, as well as a judge of local renown. He served 
as a member of the territorial legislature, as territorial delegate in the 
congress, a member and the president of the convention which framed 
the present constitution of the state; he was also a member of the state 
legislature, and ably served as the judge of the county court of Brown 
county. 

Green Bay has become noted, not only for its being the earliest- 
settled town in the state, and the great center of early military opera- 
tions in the northwest, but on account of its being the home of many of 
the grisat men who have, during the past century, sat in our nation's 
counsels. 




Chapter XXI. 
PRAIRIE DU CHIEN. 

Tradition.— Old French Fort and Fortifications.— Fur Traders. — Fort Shelby Captured 
by the British. — The Territory of Michigan. — H. L. Dousman and General Joseph 
M. Street Settle at the Prairie. — Lieutenant Jefferson Davis Becomes Wisconsin's 
First Lumberman, and Rebuilds Fort Crawford. — Early Reminiscences. 

Picturesque Prairie du Chien, situated in the broad expanse of the 
Mississippi valley, a few miles above the junction of the Wisconsin 
river, is surrounded by mists of legendary and realistic romances and 
crimes. 

According to tradition, the first settlement at Prairie du Chien was 
made by Cardinelle, a trader and hunter, who, with his wife, came from 
Canada in 1726, and cleared a small farm, which became the nucleus of 
the present prosperous city of Prairie du Chien. Tradition records the 
fact that after the death of Cardinelle, his wife survived him, attained 
the great age of one hundred and thirty years, and died in 1827, having 
been repeatedly married after the death of Cardinelle. 

According to Dr. Brunson, the traditional chronicler, the next set- 
tler at Prairie du Chien was one Ganier, whose descendants still live at 
that place. From various authorities, it has been clearly established 
that at least one French military post existed near the mouth of the 
Wisconsin. This point was the northern limit of the Illinois tribes, and 
a general rendezvous and starting point for raids against the Iroquois, 
established near Chicago. It was, in fact, the starting point for all 
important expeditions, either up or down the Mississippi. According to 
Jeffreys' map, of 1776, a line is drawn from Prairie du Chien to Omaha, 
and is inscribed ' ' French Route to the Western Indians. " The governor 
of Pennsylvania, in 1721, in a report to the king of England, designates 
this as one of the three great routes from Canada to the Mississippi,* 
and subsequently it was remarked "that since the peace of Aix-la- 
Chapelle, in 1748, the French had greatly increased the number of forts 
on the rivers which run into the Mississippi." The forts of the early 
French traders were indeed plentiful. Every trading house was, in 
fact, fortified to some extent, as the pioneer poem, with reference to the 
establishment of Solomon Juneau, at Milwaukee, bears witness, which 
reads thus: 

"Juneau's palace of logs was a store and a fort. 
Though surrounded by neither a ditch or a moat; 
For often this lonely and primitive place 
Was sorely beset by that bloodthirsty race 
With whom Juneau had mercantile dealings." 

Although Marquette was a man of peace, yet his mission-house was 
palisaded. Even the black-gowned Jesuits generally fortified their 



156 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

missions, and taught the Indians the manner in which their strongholds 
could be improved, by changing circles to squares, and adding towers at 
the corners. 

In 1685, according to the narrative of La Potherie, the Miamis, 
whose villages were a few leagues below the mouth of the Wisconsin, 
went to Green Bay, about forty strong, where Nicholas Perrot had 
already arrived as governor of the Northwest. "They begged him to 
set up his establishment on the Mississippi and near the Wisconsin, in 
order that they could sell their furs there." They brought him presents 
consisting of beautiful specimens of lead, and each gave him four beaver- 
skins. The result was that Perrot, shortly afterward, established him- 
self a little below the Wisconsin. "The establishment of Perrot was 
below the Wisconsin, in a situation very strong against the assaults of 
neighboring tribes."* 

According to Parkman, the most remarkable of all the early maps 
of the interior of North America was made in 1688, by J. B. Franquelin, 
for presentation to the French king, and bears this inscription: "Carte 
de I'Amerique Septentrionale, dress^e par J. B. Franquelin, dans 1688, 
pour etre pr^sent^e a Louis XIV." According to this map, Fort St. 
Nicholas is located near the mouth of the Wisconsin. 

Thomas Jeffreys, geographer to his majesty, George III., published 
a map in 1762, entitled "Canada and the Northern Part of Louisiana." 
On this map, at the confluence of the Wisconsin and the Mississippi, 
are the following words: "Fort St. Nicholas destroyed." 

According to a report made to the house of representatives of the 
United States, in 1818, by the committee on public lands, of which the 
Hon. George Robertson, of Kentucky, was chairman, it is recorded 
that in the year 1755, the government of France established a military 
post near the mouth of the Wisconsin; that many French families estab- 
lished themselves in the neighborhood, and that this settlement founded 
the village of Prairie du Chien. 

It is fittingly suggested by the Hon. Moses M. Strong, in his 
" History of Wisconsin Territory," page 87, that "it does not appear 
probable that the trading-post and stockade established in 1755, by the 
French government, if any was then established or permanently main- 
tained, or that either had any existence as late as 1780. There was a 
tradition among the old settlers, according to testimony taken in 1820, 
in relation to the private land claims, that the old fort was burned 

in 1777." 

From numerous facts it would appear that tradition has dealt kindly 
with the early history of Prairie du Chien, as Captain Carver, in his 
"Travels," fails to make any mention of there being any white inhabi- 
tants at this place, which he visited in 1766. This observing traveler 
describes with considerable minuteness the large Indian town on the 

*Wis. Hist. Coll., Vol. X... 60. 



EARLY SETTLERS AND SETTLEMENTS. 157 

Wisconsin, at the present site of Prairie du Sac, and remarks that the 
traders who accompanied him took up their winter-quarters at a point on 
the Yellow river, about ten miles above Prairie du Chien, on the Missis- 
sippi side. Had any settlements of the whites been near the mouth of 
the Wisconsin river, they would not have located their winter-quarters 
on the Yellow river, but would have stopped with the whites at the 
settlement. 

Governor St. Patrick, of Mackinaw, at a treaty with the Indians in 
1781, purchased their right and title to Mackinaw, Green Bay, and 
Prairie du Chien. The Prairie du Chien tract was six leagues up and 
■ down the river, and six leagues west, and was purchased for and in 
behalf of the traders, three of whom were Bazil G;iird, Pierre Antua, 
and Augustin Ange. The payment for this valuable tract of land was 
made in goods by these enterprising traders. 

One of the early settlers of Prairie du Chien was Michael Brisbois, 
who came there in 1781, and there resided for fifty-six 3'ears. He died 
in 1837, at the age of seventy-seven years, and was buried, in accordance 
with his request, on one of the prominent bluffs back of the village of 
Prairie du Chien. He left numerous children, whose ancestors still live 
near that place. 

According to Dr. Brunson's early history of Wisconsin, there were 
twenty or thirty settlers at Prairie du Chien when Michael Brisbois 
came there, and in 1793, twelve years later, there were forty-three farms 
and twenty or thirty village lots, most of which had been built upon. 
The majority of these early settlers were hunters, traders and voyegeurs, 
who married among the natives, and prosecuted farming only to relieve 
the monotony of their other employments. M. Brisbois was not only a 
trader and a farmer on a diminutive scale, but a baker as well. He 
gave to the inhabitants tickets for fifty loaves of bread for each one 
hundred pounds of flour they delivered to him, and these tickets, like 
the Arkansas coon-skins, formed a currenc)'' with which they carried on 
trade with the Indians and with each other. As none of the inhabitants 
made their own bread, Brisbois' bake-house became an institution of 
vast importance. 

A trader, of the name of Campbell, was appointed by the United 
States government sub-Indian agent, and justice of the peace by the 
governor of Illinois about 1807. About a year afterwards, Campbell 
was killed at Mackinaw, while fighting a duel with one Crawford. 
Campbell's successor to both offices was Nicholas Boilvin. 

Joseph Roulette was born in Canada, of a respectable French family, 
and was educated for the Roman Catholic church, but not liking the 
profession, quit it, and served an apprenticeship in the mercantile busi- 
ness, and soon became one of the most noted characters in the early 
liistory of Prairie du Chien. Having engaged in the Indian trade with 
one Murdock Cameron, he came to Prairie du Chien about 1804, where 



158 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

he resided up to the time of his death in 1841. Roulette was appointed 
chief-justice of the county court, in 1827 or '28, which office he held 
with honor and distinction until 1830. He was an active merchant and 
trader, and exhibited considerable enterprise for the prosperity and 
improvement of the country. His wife was a woman of culture and 
refinement, whose influence was so beneficial in those early days. 
Their daughter married Major Alexander S. Hooe, of the United States 
army. 

The code Coutiitne de Paris was the French laws, which governed 
Canada and all the territory of the northwest, while under French 
dominion, and, in fact, to some extent prevailed up to the time the laws 
of Michigan were introduced, about i8ig. These laws were greatly 
perverted by the usages adopted to suit the convenience of the early 
settlers in various localities, especially in Prairie du Chien and Green 
Bay. /. e. : Under the marriage contract, the survivor took the whole 
of the property, especially where there was no issue, and whenever the 
contracting parties wished to be divorced, they went together before 
the magistrate, and after making known their wishes, tore up the mar- 
riage contract, thus severing the bonds of matrimony. 

Lyman C. Draper, in his note to page 126, Wis. Hist. Coll., Vol. II., 
gives a fair illustration of early justice as dealt out by the early connois- 
seurs of the law, and especially the kind dealt out by Colonel Boilvin, 
whose justice-office was just outside the walls of Prairie du Chien. It 
appears that a soldier named Fry had been accused of stealing a calf 
belonging to one M. Roulette, and the constable, abrickmaker by trade, 
had been dispatched, without a warrant, to arrest the culprit, and bring 
him before the dignified court. 

Colonel Boilvin was talking with some of his friends when Officer 
Bell returned with the accused man, and knocked at the door. 

"Come in," cried Colonel Boilvin, rising and walking towards the 
door. 

Bell — "Here, sir, I have brought Fry to you, as you ordered." 

Colonel B. — " Fry, you great rascal, what for you kill M. Roulette's 
calf?" 

Fry—" I did not kill M. Roulette's calf." 

Colonel B. (shaking his fist.) — "You lie, you great rascal! Bell, 
take him to jail. Come, gentlemen, come; let us take a leetle quelque- 
cliose.'''' 

For many years prior to the war of 181 2, the whole Mississippi val- 
ley, on the east side of the river, and the surrounding country from 
Prairie du Chien to Rock Island, attracted the attention of the east as 
well as the west, and especially those desiring to become western 
settlers. In 1813, the British meditated the occvipation of the whole 
Illinois territory, and had, at the portage of the Fox and Wisconsin rivers, 
several cannon for a fort, the erection of which they anticipated at 



EARLY SETTLERS AND SETTLEMENTS. 159 

Prairie du Chien. For reasons only known to the British authorities, 
the erection of the fort was not undertaken that 3ear. 

The United States government, in the spring of 1814, sent Lieu- 
tenant Perkins and one hundred and thirty-five dauntless young volun- 
teers from Missouri to Prairie du Chien. They were accompanied by 
Governor Clark, who returned to St. Louis during the following June. 
He reported to the authorities upon his return, that the command under 
Lieutenant Perkins had taken possession of the house formerly occupied 
by the old Mackinaw Fur Company, and that the volunteers occupied 
two armed boats, under command of Aid-de-Camp Kennesley and 
Captains Sullivan and Yeizer, and that, when he left, the new fort was 
in progress of erection, and occupied a most commanding spot. The 
fort was finished during the month of June, and called Fort Shelby. 
"The site of this fort is nearly opposite the present pontoon railroad 
bridge, and is where Colonel H. L. Dousman, after the removal of the 
fort to the east side of the Marais St. Friole, built an elegant private 
residence."* 

From the time of the surrender of the northw^estern posts by the 
British to the United States, up to the time of the war of 181 2, the 
Indian traders, as a rule, w'ere in deep sympathy with Great Britain. 
These traders, having learned of the occupation of Prairie du Chien by 
the United States government's military forces i:^ 1814, in conjunction 
with some British officers fitted out at Mackinaw an expedition for its 
capture. The daring Colonel William McKay, who subsequently 
became a member of the North West Fur Company, f was placed in 
command of this expedition. 

Joseph Roulette, who had been active in commanding the Canadians 
at the capture of Mackinaw, in 1812, and Thomas Anderson, another 
trader, each raised a hardy company of militia at Mackinaw from among 
their engages. Colonel Robert Dickson, who had commanded a large 

*Strong's History of Wisconsin Territory, go. 

I" In 1783, several of the principal merchants of Montreal entered into a partner- 
ship to prosecute the fur trade, and, in 1787, united with a rival company, and thus 
arose the famous North West Company which, for many years, held lordly sway over 
the immense region in Canada and beyond the great western lakes. Several years later, 
a new association of British merchants formed the Mackinaw Company, having their 
chief factory or depot at Mackinaw; and their field of operations was south of their great 
rival's, sending forth their light perogiies and bark canoes, by Green Bay, the Fox and 
Wisconsin rivers, to the Mississippi, and thence down that stream to all its tributaries. 
In 1809, Mr. Astor organized the American Fur Compan}', he alone constituting the 
company; and, in 181 1, in connection with certain partners of the North West Company, 
and others, he bought out the Mackinaw Company, and merged that and his American 
Fur Company into a new association, called the South West Company. By this arrange- 
ment, Mr. Astor became the proprietor of one-half of all the interests which the Macki- 
naw Company had in the Indian country within the United States; and it was under- 
stood that the whole, at the expiration of five years, was to pass into his hands, on con- 
dition that the American, or South West, Company would not trade within the British 
dominions. The war of 181 2 suspended the association; and after the war it was entirely 
dissolved, congress having passed a law prohibiting British fur-traders from prosecuting 
their enterprises within the territories of the United States. Thus we find Mr. Crooks, 
in 1815, closing up the affairs of the South West Company, preliminary to enlarged 
individual enterprise on the part of Mr. Astor." Wis. Hist. Coll. 



i6o HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

Indian force at the capture of Fort Mackinaw, selected from among his 
force two hundred Sioux warriors and one hundred Winnebagoes. 
There was also a small party of eighteen regulars, under Captain 
Pohlman. With this little army, and a brass six-pounder, Colonel 
McKay went in boats from Mackinaw to Green Bay, where he tarried 
sufficiently long to increase his numbers, and make other preparations. 
The new force now consisted of one hundred and fifty whites and four 
hundred Indians.* The expedition, piloted by Captain Roulette, now 
moved up the Fox river, the whites in six barges and the Indians in 
canoes, made the portage, and descended the Wisconsin to the old 
deserted Fox village about twenty miles above its mouth, where they 
halted and sent their spies to reconnoiter and ascertain the situation 
and strength of the fort. The reconnoiterers were August Grignon, 
Michael Brisbois, and two Indians, who brought back with them 
Antoine Brisbois, who reported the strength of the garrison at sixty. 
The next morning, Sunday, the 17th of July, 1814, Colonel McKay, with 
his forces, reached the town unperceived, where they made a formidable 
display, greatly to the terror of the inhabitants, and the consternation 
of the garrison. The gun-boat, under command of Captain Yeizer, 
with other boats, were fired upon and forced to move down the stream, 
carrying with them the provisions and ammunition of the garrison. 
The garrison was now regularly invested. Captains Roulette and 
Anderson, with their companies, and the Sioux and Winnebagoes, took 
positions above the fort, while Colonel- McKay, with the Green Bay 
company, the regulars, Menominies and Chippewas, encompassed it 
below. The gallant commander of the garrison. Captain Anderson, 
was asked to surrender the fort, but stubbornly declined. For four 
days, the brave little force successfully resisted the persistent attack 
of their combined enemies. Colonel McKay, on the fourth day 
of the siege, became desperate and ordered cannon-balls, heated red 
hot in a blacksmith's forge, to be fired into the wooden garrison stock- 
ade. Lieutenant Perkins, now believing that further resistance would 
be useless, raised a white flag. The formal surrender was made on the 
next day, the 21st of July. The soldiers of the garrison were placed on 
board a large boat, the "Governor Clark," and sent down the river by 
Colonel McKay, under the protection of an escort. 

The garrison, now called Fort McKay, was placed in command of 
Captain Pohlman, with two Mackinaw companies, one under command 
of Captain Anderson, and the other under Lieutenant Graham, while 
Colonel McKay, the Green Bay troops, and the Indians, took their 
departure shortly after the surrender of the fort. The British occupied 
the fort until peace was declared in 1815, during which time the inhab- 
itants were required to do duty in and about the fort. 

In June, 1816, Brevet-General Smythe, colonel of a rifle regiment, 

*Strong's History of Wisconsin Territory, 90. 



EARLY SETTLERS AND SETTLEMENTS. i6i 

came to Prairie du Chien, with a detachment of United States troops, 
to erect Fort Crawford. "He selected the mound where the stockade 
had been built, which he repaired and occupied." Upon the arrival of 
Colonel Smythe and his troops, Michael Brisbois was arrested upon 
charge of treason, for having taken up arms against the United States. 
He was sent to St. Louis for trial. Colonel Talbot Chambers assumed 
command of Fort Crawford, in the spring of 1817, and immediately 
established rules of despotism. He ordered the houses in front of the 
fort to be taken down by their owners and removed to the lower end of 
the village. The officers in particular, under Colonel Chambers, treated 
the inhabitants as a conquered people, and in some cases arraigned and 
tried them by court-martial, and sentenced them to degrading punish- 
ments. 

One Charles Menard was arrested, brought five miles from his 
residence under guard, and after being tried by court-martial, on a 
charge of selling whisky to the soldiers, was publicly whipped, and, 
with a bottle hanging to his neck, marched through the street, with 
music behind him playing the Rogue's March. Joseph Roulette, 
charged with some immoral conduct, was court-martialed and banished 
to an island seven miles above the fort, where he passed the winter. 
Numerous tyrannical acts were perpetrated by these self-constituted law- 
makers. 

During the fall of 181 5, Captain John Shaw went up the river, from 
St. Louis to Prairie du Chien, with a boat loaded with merchandise, 
and engaged in traffic. He returned the next year with a larger boat, 
well stocked with merchandise, and located at that time a water-power 
site at Fisher's Coulle, four miles above Prairie du Chien, and promised 
the settlers that he would erect a mill there. He made numerous other 
mercantile expeditions, and, in 1818, built the grist-mill upon the site 
which he had selected. 

One of the prominent early settlers at Prairie du Chien was James 
H. Lockwood, who was born at Peru, Clinton county. New York, 
December 7, 1793. After studying law for about a year, he engaged as 
a merchant's clerk. In 1815, he occupied the position of clerk in a 
sutler's store at Mackinaw, and the next year he removed to Prairie du 
Chien. He occupied, during his eventful life at this place, many posi- 
tions of trust, both public and private. When Judge Doty went to 
Prairie du Chien, in 1823, to hold his first court, there were no lawyers; 
consequently, Mr. Lockwood was induced to practice law, but his prin- 
cipal occupation was that of merchant and trader. In 1830, he was 
appointed one of the judges of the county court. Judge Lockwood 
died at his home in Prairie du Chien on August 24, 1857. 

Early times and events in Wisconsin are vividly portrayed by the 
Hon. James H. Lockwood, in an ably-written paper presented to_ the 



i62 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

Wisconsin Historical Society.* We quote Judge Lockwood: "Tradi- 
tion says the place took its name from an Indian chief of the Fox tribe 
by the name of Chien, or Dog, who had a village somewhere on the 
prairie, near where Fort Crawford now stands. Chien, or Dog, is a 
favorite name among the Indians of the northwest. 

"There were, on the prairie, about forty farms cultivated along 
under the bluffs where the soil was first-rate, and inclosed in one com- 
mon field, and the boundaries between them generally marked by a road 
that afforded them ingress and egress; the plantations running from the 
bluffs to the Mississippi on the slough of St. Friole, and from three to 
five arpents wide (35 to 55 rods wide, an arpent is 11 rods). The 
owners did not generally live upon their farms immediately, but clus- 
tered together in little villages near their front. * * * Xhey were 
living in Arcadian simplicity, spending a great deal of their time in fish- 
ing, hunting, horse-racing or trotting, or in dancing and drinking. 
* * * The}^ had no aristocracy among them except the traders, who 
were regarded as a privileged class. 

"The traders and the clerks were then the aristocracy of the coun- 
try; and to a Yankee at first sight, presented a singular state of society. 
To see gentlemen selecting wives of the nut-brown natives, and raising 
children of mixed blood, the traders and clerks living in as much luxury 
as the resources of the country would admit, and the engages, or boat- 
men, living upon soup made of hulled corn with barely tallow enough 
■ to season it, devoid of salt, unless the}^ purchased it themselves at a 
high price — -all this, to an American, was a novel mode of living. 

"Prairie du Chien was at this time an important post for Indian 
trade, and was considered by the Indians as neutral ground, where 
different tribes, although at war, might visit in safety; but if hostile 
they had to beware of being caught in the neighborhood, going or 
returning. Yet I never heard of any hostile movement on the prairie, 
after they had safely arrived. * * * * 

"At that time, there were generally collected (annually) at Prairie 
du Chien, by the traders and United States factors, about three hun- 
dred packs, of one hundred pounds each, of furs and peltries — mostly 
fine furs. Of the different Indian tribes that visited and traded more or 
less at Prairie du Chien, there were the Menomonees from Green Bay, 
who frequently wintered on the Mississippi; the Chippewas, who resided 
on the headwaters of the Chippewa and Black rivers; the Foxes, who 
had a village where Cassville now stands, called Penah, /. e., Turkey; 
the Sauks, who resided about Galena and Dubuque; the Winnebagoes, 
who resided on the Wisconsin river; the lowas, who then had a village 
on the Upper Iowa river; Wabashaw's band of Sioux, who resided on 
the beautiful prairie on the Iowa side of the Mississippi, about one 
hundred and twenty miles above Prairie du Chien, with occasionally a 

*Wis. Hist. Coll., Vol. II., 98-196. 



EARLY SETTLERS AND SETTELMENTS. 163 

Kickapoo and Pottawattamie. The Sauks and Foxes brought from 
Galena a considerable quantity of lead.* 

" There was not at that time any Indian corn raised there. The 
traders for the upper Mississippi, had to send down for their corn which 
they used, to the Sauks and the Foxes at Rock Island, and trade with 
them for it. It is believed that the first field of corn raised at Prairie 
du Chien was by Thomas McNair, an American, who had married a 
French girl, and settled down to farming. 

"The farmers of Prairie du Chien appeared to be a more thrifty 
and industrious people than those of Green Bay; they raised a large 
quantity of small grain, such as wheat, barley, oats, peas, and also some 
potatoes and onions. Every two or three farmers united, and had a 
horse flouriiag-mill — the stones being cut from the granite rock found in 
the country. There they ground their wheat, and sifted the flour by 
hand. The surplus flour was sold to the Indians for goods, or exchanged 
with the Indians for venison, ducks, and geese, or dressed deer-skins, 
as there was no money in circulation in the country. Any purchase 
made was payable in goods from the traders, or flour from the inhab- 
itants, "f 

In 1819-20, congress passed an act authorizing testimony to be taken 
relative to private land claims at Sault Ste. Marie, Mackinaw, Green 
Bay and Prairie du Chien, which were reserved for subjects of the Brit- 
ish government, under Jay's treaty. Commissioners were accordingly 
sent to the different places in the fall of 1820, to take the required tes- 
timony. The Prairie du Chien representative, Mr. Lee, came to Prairie 
du Chien as such United States land commissioner. At a subsequent 
session of congress, an act was passed giving the settlers who were in 
possession of land at the date of the declaration of war against Great 
Britain, in 181 2, and who had continued to abide by the laws of the 
United States, the lands they claimed. Much annoyance and injury 
resulted from the questionable attitude of some of the settlers towards 
the government, during the war with England, and, in consequence, the 
patents were delayed. 

The striking difference between truth and fiction is admirably illus- 
trated in the following incident: 

Running through a tract of land nearly opposite the old village of 
Prairie du Chien, in Iowa, was a small stream called Girard's Creek. In 
1823, the commandant at Fort Crawford had a party of men detailed to 
cultivate a pubhc garden on the old farm of Bazil Girard, through which 
the creek flows. 

*It is stated by Nicholas Boilvin, in a letter written to the secretary of war, that, in 
1810, the quantity of lead exchanged by the Indians for goods was 400,000 pounds. 
Strong's History of Wisconsin Territory. 

fWis. Hist. Coll , Vol. II., 112. 



i64 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

Martin Scott,* then a dashing lieutenant of the Fifth infantry, and 
stationed at Fort Crawford, was directed to superintend the party. 
Scott was an excellent shot and, being exceedingly fond of shooting, 
frequently took his dogs and gun in the morning, got into his little hunt- 
ing canoe, and spent the day in shooting woodcock, which were so 
plentiful in the marshes in that locality, and upon his return in the even- 
ing would boast of the numerous birds that bled that day. After a time 
he gave the creek the name of Bloody Run. In after years, an enter- 
prising editor of the village paper published a long traditionary account 
of a bloody battle which was fought there years ago. Thus, the killing 
of a few score of innocent woodcock, upon the borders of Girard's Creek, 
is so transformed by the pen of the able romancer, that visions of a 
bloody battle, and untold mutilated forms of dead and dying soldiers 
and Indians, now rise before us. 

In 1819, Wilfred Owens, of Prairie du Chien, and the late Governor 
St. Nair, of Missouri, furnished the capital, and with C. A. Andrewsf 
and one Dickinson built a saw-mill on Black river, but before they had 
done much business, the mill was burned, presumably by the Winne- 
bagoes, who were then claiming the entire country. 

The authorities of Crawford county, in 1820-21, built a jail in the rear 
of the old village of Prairie du Chien; it was built of hewn oak logs, 
about one foot square, and was about sixteen by twenty-five feet, and 
divided into debtors' and criminals' departments. At this old log jail, 
a sergeant of the United States infantry was hung, in 1828, for shooting 
Lieutenant McKenzie, of the same regiment. In 1833, or '34, a soldier 
of that regiment was executed there for shooting Sergeant Coffin, in the 
new Fort Crawford. This old jail was burned in 1834. 

Congress, during the year i8i8-ig, admitted Illinois into the union, 
and all that part of the country formerly belonging to the territories of 
Indiana and Illinois was attached to Michigan, and placed under the 
government of General Lewis Cass. General Cass, by proclamation, dated 
October 26, 1818, issued by virtue of the ordinance of 1787, laid out the 
county of Michilimackinac, the southern boundary being "the dividing 

* Scott, at this time, was a young man who had been in the army but a few years. 
He was born at Bennington, Vermont, and was educated at West Point. In his youth 
he was famous among the sharpshooters of the Green mountains, who excelled with the 
unerring rifle. It is said that Scott never shot game in the body, nor while it was stand- 
ing or sitting, but while running, or on the wing, and he usually shot the game in the 
head. He would sometimes drive a nail into a board part way with a hammer, then at 
a long distance would, with his unerring rifle, drive the nail home with his bullet. He 
served with distinction in the Mexican war, under General Scott, and near the close of 
that brilliant campaign was killed at the battle of Molino del Rey, on September 8, 1847. 
Lieutenant Scott saw much hard service, and always conducted himself in a manner 
that entitled him to great respect, while his integrity of character, and great kindness 
and benevolence of heart, won for him the love of all his comrades. (Wis. Hist. Coll., 
Vol. II., iig, see note.) 

f Mr. Andrews, under date November 10, 1819, writes to Dr. Peters from Falls 
Black river: "On the 2d day of November, I set a saw-mill running, not much inferior 
to any in the United States. The Sioux gave us permission to come here. There 
were seven chiefs in council; the seven gave us five years." 



EARLY SETTLERS AND SETTLEMENTS. 165 

ground between the rivers which flowed into Lake Superior and those 
which flowed south. " Governor Cass, by proclamation bearing the above 
date, divided into two counties, all of the territory of Michigan, south 
and west of the county of Michilimackinac. The two counties were 
separated ''by a line drawn due north from the northern boundary of 
the state of Illinois, through the middle of the portage between the Fox 
river and the Ouissin (Wisconsin) river to the county of Michili- 
mackinac. The eastern county was called Brown, and the other Craw- 
ford, the former in honor of General Brown, the commanding general 
of the army, and the latter as a compliment to Crawford, the secretary 
of war. Governor Cass sent blank commissions for the different officers 
of the counties of Brown and Crawford, to be filled by the inhabitants. 
The representative inhabitants of Brown county met and made the fol- 
lowing appointments, which were inserted in the appointment blanks, 
and bear date, October 27, 1818. For Brown county, Matthew Irwin, 
chief justice, commissioner and judge of probate; Charles Reaume, 
associate justice and justice of the peace; John Bowyer, commissioner; 
Robert Irwin, Jr., clerk; and George Johnson, sheriff. For Crawford 
county, Nicholas Boilvin and John W. Johnson, justices of the peace. 

The following appointments for Crawford county were made by 
Governor Cass, May 12, i8ig, viz.: John W. Johnson, chief justice; 
Michael Brisbois and Francis Bouthillier, associate justices; Wilfred 
Owens, judge of probate; Nicholas Boilvin, John W. Johnson and 
James H. Lockwood, justices of the peace; Thomas McNair, sheriff; 
John L. Findley, clerk; Hyacinth St. Cyr and Oliver Sharrier, super- 
visors of roads; and John P. Gates, register of probate and ex-officio 
recorder of deeds. 

An act was adopted by Governor Cass and the judges of Michigan 
territory, on the 17th of September, 1821, to incorporate "The Borough 
of Prairie des Chiens." It gave the wardens and burgesses power to 
lay out highways, streets and public walks, and to provide for an effect- 
ive municipal government. The borough was organized with John J. 
Johnson as warden and M. Brisbois and Thomas McNair burgesses. 
The organization was only kept up three years, being discontinued in 
1825 by non-user. The last warden was Joseph Roulette, and M. Bris- 
bois and James H. Lockwood its last burgesses. 

The firsc court held in Brown county, of which there are any 
records, was a special session of the county court, held July 12, 1824. 
The judges had superseded those appointed in 1818, and were Jacques 
Porlier, chief justice, and John Lawe and Henry B. Brevoort, associate 
justices. The first term of the county court of Crawford county was 
held May 12, 1823, with Francis Bouthillier and Joseph Roulette, judges. 
Little business other than issuing two tavern licenses, and declaring the 
proceedings of James H. Lockwood "legal and proper," was performed. 

On the 17th day of May, 1824, a grand jury was impaneled, and 



i66 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

returned an indictment against J. B. Maynard, who, being called, failed 
to appear, and, in consequence, the court ordered that "on his arrival 
at this place he do enter into recognizance for his appearance at the next 
term of this court, to answer, plead, etc." 

Colonel H. L. Dousman, one of Prairie du Chien's most highly 
respected and esteemed citizens, came to that place in the fall of 1827, 
in the employ of the American Fur Company. Mr. Dousman accumu- 
lated an ample fortune, and used it liberally in the promotion and growth 
of his adopted home. He died at Prairie du Chien, September 12, 1868, 
lamented by all who knew him. 

General Joseph M. Street came to Prairie du Chien in 1828, having 
been appointed Indian agent for that locality. The next year, he 
brought his family and settled there. This was the first Protestant 
family that had settled at that place. Thomas Burnett was appointed 
Sbib-Indian agent under General Street, in October, 1829, and came to 
Prairie du Chien the following June. 

Some of our early historians, through prejudice and hatred sup- 
pressed and omitted the name of Jefferson Davis, who afterwards became 
the celebrated president of the southern confederacy, from our early 
histories. In July, 1828, Cadet Davis was graduated at West Point, 
and received the usual brevet of second lieutenant of infantry. After a 
short furlough, he reported for duty at Jefferson Barracks, St. Louis, 
where he found Lieutenants Gustave Rousseau, Kinsman, Thomas Dray- 
ton, Sidney Johnston, and other old friends. Shortly after his arrival, 
he was sent up to Fort Crawford, and helped to rebuild a larger and 
more impregnable fortification. General George Jones, in speaking of 
the early days in Wisconsin, writes: " It was late in the year (referring 
to 1828) one night, when a lieutenant and a sergeant rode up to my log 
cabin at Sinsinawa Mound, about fifty miles from Fort Crawford, and 
inquired for Mr. Jones. I told him that I answered to that name. The 
lieutenant then asked me if they could remain there all night. I told 
him that they were welcome to share my buffalo-robes and blankets, and 
that their horses could be corraled with mine on the prairie. 

"The officer then asked me if I had ever been at the Transylvania 
University. I answered that I had been there from 1821 to 1825. 
'Do you remember a college boy named Jeff Davis ? ' 
'Of course I do.' 
'I am Jeff. ' 

That was enough for me. I pulled him off his horse and into my 
cabin, and it was hours before either of us could think of sleeping."* 

While stationed at Fort Crawford, in 1829, Lieutenant Davis com- 
manded a detachment for cutting timber to repair and enlarge the old 
fort. They embarked in one of the little open boats, then the only mode 
of conveyance, and, accompanied by two voyegeurs, began their timber- 

*In "A Memoir" of Jefferson Davis, by his wife, Vol. I., 53, 59. 



EARLY SETTLERS AND SETTLEMENTS. 167 

exploring expedition. At one point they were hailed by a party of 
Indians, who asked to trade for tobacco. As the Indians appeared 
friendly, the little party rowed to the bank and began the parley. The 
voyegeurs, however, were familiar with Indian methods and saw that their 
peaceful tones were only a cloak to hide their hostility, and warned 
Lieutenant Davis of his danger ; the canoes were then ordered to be 
pushed into the stream, while the Indians, with yells of fury, leaped into 
their canoes and gave chase. The chance for escape from their 
experienced pursuers was slight. If taken captive, death by torture 
awaited them. The wind being boisterous and in their favor. Lieu- 
tenant Davis immediately rigged up a sail with one of their blankets, 
and within a short time they were out of reach of their pursuers. Fifty 
years afterwards, in speaking of the incident, Mr. Davis said: "The 
Indians seemed to me to be legion." The little party pursued their way 
up to the mouth of the Chippewa, one hundred and seventy-five miles 
from Prairie du Chien, then, leaving the Mississippi, they ascended the 
Chippewa until they came to the mouth of the Red Cedar river. They 
worked their way up this stream for about forty miles, when they came 
to a splendid pine forest, which adorned the banks of the Red Cedar, 
at or near where the beautiful and thriving city of Menominie now 
stands. It was at this point where Jefferson Davis became Wisconsin's 
first lumberman, and from this point "the sound of the white man's ax 
was first heard in the pine forests of Wisconsin." 

It was at Fort Crawford that the early frontiersmen used to bring 
to the offtcers wolves for races, which were chased with horse and hound, 
as foxes are chased in England. This was their favorite game, but 
sometimes they diversified their sport by fighting their dogs against the 
wolves. General Harney, a few years ago, with pride was wont to boast 
of chasing a wolf down, and having what he called a "fist fight," during 
which he choked it to death by main force. During the winter, their 
chief amusement was sleigh-rides over the frozen river, notwithstanding 
they frequently risked the loss of their scalps. 




-^K 




' \ f 



M %'-^''4ifc^^-'^#U.^^^- 






Fond du Lac in 1837. 

(Sketch by Mark R. Harrison, Fond du Lac, Wis.) 



Chapter XXI. 
CHICKAMAUGUN, PORTAGE, MILWAUKEE, FOND DU LAC. 

Chickamaugun. 

Chickamaugun, on Lake Superior, was the headquarters for the 
first missionary laborers within the limits of Wisconsin. The early 
Jesuits were there already in 1665, but its growth was quite limited, 
being C( nfined entirely to missionary work. It was during this year that 
Father Ai. ouez built a rude bark chapel here, and established the first 
Jesuit mission of Wisconsin.* 

Shortly after the conquest of Canada by the English, a company of 
adventurers from England undertook to work the prehistoric copper 
mines on Lake Superior, but their success being limited, they soon 
relinquished their scheme. In some of these prehistoric mines, ancient 
hammers, chisels, and knives, have been found, which bear evidence of 
having been made by unknown people. Numerous pits had been sunk 
by these people, wdio followed the course of veins, extending in con- 
tinuous lines. From the earth thrown out of one of the pits, a pine tree 
had grown to the circumference of ten feet, while upon another a 
hemlock tree was cut, whose annular growth counted three hundred and 
ninety-five years. 

Portage. 

During the summer of 1634, Jean Nicollet penetrated the western 
wilderness as far as the present city of Berlin, then took up his way 
southward into Illinois. 

In 1658, Radisson and his brother-in-law, Groselliers, spent some 
time among the Hurons and Ottawas, and passed the winter with the 
Pottawattamies, who were living on the islands at the entrance of Green 
Bay. The following spring they visited the Mascoutins, on the Upper 
Fox river. Here Groselliers tarried, while the infatuated Indians, 
during the summer of 1659, carried Radisson over hundreds of miles of 
the water courses of Wisconsin, making the portage, and discovering 
the Upper Mississippi river. Radisson was the first white man to make 
the portage. It took Radisson and his companions four months to make 
this celebrated trip through the unknown wilderness. The next white 
men who visited the portage were Joliet and Marquette, and their 
voyegeurs, five in number, who "made the portage" in June, i673.f 

In 1680, Louis Hennepin, who accompanied La Salle in his explora- 
tion tour, at the command of La Salle, explored the Upper Mississippi, 
and while passing the mouth of the Wisconsin, was, together with his 
followers, made prisoner by the Sioux, on the 12th day of April. Two 
months later, they were liberated by their captors, who left them at Rum 

*Matteson's History of Wisconsin, 81. 
\ Matteson's History of Wisconsin, 78. 



I70 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

river, and started on a buffalo hunt. Their captors having supplied 
them with canoes and other necessities, they continued their journey up 
the Mississippi, and discovered the great falls, which Hennepin called 
St. Anthony Falls. Upon their return, they ascended the Fox river and 
were at the portage. Three years later, La Sueur and his party made 
the portage while on their way to the Mississippi. 

Laurent Barth, a trader at Mackinaw, was the first settler at the 
portage, having come there in the spring of 1792, with his family, from 
the St. Croix river, where he, in company with other traders, had traded 
the previous winter. He purchased from the Winnebagoes the privilege 
of transporting goods over the portage. The Indian habitations near 
the portage now increased rapidly, but the settlement by white men did 
not increase for many years. 

In 1798, came the next white settler, Jean L'Ecuyer. Barth had, 
upon his arrival, a single-horse cart, but when L'Ecuyer came, he brought 
several teams and carts, one of which was a heavy wagon, and so con 
structed as to transport barges. In 1803, Mr. Barth sold to Mr. Camp 
bell, who had previously arrived, all his rights in the transportation 
business. He removed to Prairie du Chien, where he died prior to the 
war of 181 2. Campbell sold his property to L'Ecuyer, and removed 
to Prairie du Chien, and acted as the first American Indian agent at 
that point. Campbell is the man who was afterwards killed at Macki 
naw, in a duel with one Crawford. The two sons of Mr. Campbell, 
John and Duncan, staid at the portage, and had several teams to convey 
goods, and transport barges over the portage. After L'Ecuyer' s death, 
which occurred in about 1805, Laurent Fily was employed by his widow 
to carry on the business, vmtil about 1812, when Francis Roy, who had 
married a daughter of Mrs. L'Ecuyer, took charge of the business, 
which he continued for many years. After the war with England, the 
transportation business at the portage was carried on by Joseph Roulette, 
who was assisted by Pierre Marquette. The usual charge for transport 
ing goods across the portage was forty cents per hundred pounds, and 
ten dollars for each boat. After the advent of Barth at the portage, 
considerable Indian trade was maintained there. 

Barth had brought with him the remnant of his St. Croix stock. 
L'Ecuyer also kept a large assortment of goods. The widow L'Ecuyer 
and her son-in-law, Roy, continued in the trade. Laurent Fily, who 
had clerked for L'Ecuyer, also located there as a trader. He died at 
Grand Kaukalin in 1846, at the age of forty- three. August Grignon 
and Jacques Porlier spent two or three winters at this place. The 
white settlement did not increase to any great extent until after the 
erection of Fort Winnebago at that point, in 1828. 

Previous to the Indian disturbances in 1827, Redbird's band of 
Winnebagoes had commonly levied contributions on the traders while 
crossing the portage, which resulted in considerable disaffection. In 



EARLY SETTLERS AND SETTLEMENTS. 171 

consequence of the unsettled state of affairs between the Indians and 
settlers, and for the better protection of the white population, which 
was now greatly increasing westward. Major David E. Twiggs was 
ordered by the government to the portage, in 1828, with three companies 
of the First infantry, to build a fort. The officers of Major Twiggs' 
command were Brevet-Major Beall, Captain Spencer, Captain (after- 
wards general) Harney, First-Lieutenant Gaines Miller, First-Lieuten- 
ant Jefferson Davis, who was also quartermaster, First-Lieutenant 
(afterwards general) Abercrombie, Second-Lieutenant Beall (afterwards 
general in the confederate army), Second-Lieutenant Burbank (after- 
wards general), and Second-Lieutenant Lamotte, many of whom after- 
wards became world-renowned. The site selected for the fort was the 
beautiful plateau on the east side of the Fox river. This beautiful plateau 
was about fifty feet above the river, which gracefully curves around 
three sides of this commanding site. Upon this plateau, Fort Winne- 
bago was erected. The officers and soldiers at first lived in tents until 
they built temporary log barracks, in which they spent the winter of 1828- 
29. During the winter the soldiers were sent up the Wisconsin river, 
cut and floated down pine logs, which were cut into lumber and timber 
with whip-saws. They made brick near the Wisconsin river, and lime 
at Bellefontaine, about twelve miles northeast. The fort was not com- 
pleted until 1832. 

Congress, in 1827, appropriated two thousand dollars for the pur- 
pose of opening a road from Green Bay to the Wisconsin portage. In 
1830, five thousand dollars more was added to this sum, and the pro- 
posed route extended to Fort Crawford. In 1832-33, an additional ten 
thousand was appropriated, making a grand total of seventeen thousand 
dollars. 

James D. Doty and Lieutenant W. A. Center were appointed com- 
missioners and surveyed the contemplated route, which they completed 
in 1833. The route of the road from Green Bay was on the east side of 
the Fox river and Lake Winneb-^go, through the present towns of 
Depere, Wrightstown, Stockbridge, Brothertown, Calumet, Taycheedah, 
Fond du Lac, Lamartine, Green Lake, and Bellefontaine, to Fort Win- 
nebago. The route from Fort Winnebago passed through the present 
village of Poynette, on the railroad from Portage to Madison, and 
through Cross Plains to Prairie du Chlen. Five miles west of Cross 
Plains, it passed the dividing ridge which divides the waters which flow 
into the Wisconsin from those which flow southerly, following the ridge 
to within six miles of the mouth of the Wisconsin river, thence to Fort 
Crawford. The road was not open for travel until 1835. It was con- 
structed by the United States tropps. The route extending from Green 
Bay to Fond du Lac was constructed by troops in charge of Lieutenant 
Sanders, while the force in charge of the road from Fond du Lac to 
Fort Crawford was under Captains Harney, Low, and Martin Scott. 



172 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

In 1838, another appropriation of five thousand dollars was made 
by congress for the completion of the road. This appropriation was 
principally expended between Depere and Fond du Lac. Mr. Henry 
Merrill, in speaking of the primitive manner of transporting goods up 
the Fox river, says: "It was necessary for them (the freighters) to 
assemble a large number of Indians at the rapids, to help them over 
with the boats. At Grand Kaukalin, they had to unload and cart the 
goods for about one mile, and the Indians, going into the water, pushed, 
lifted and hauled the boats over the rapids; then reloading them, poled 
them up to the Grand Chute, where Appleton is now situated. There 
they had to unload and carry the goods up a hill and down the other 
side above the Chute, which was a perpendicular fall of three or four 
feet. The Indians would wade in, as many as could stand about the 
boat, and lift it over, while the others had a long cordelle, with a turn 
around a tree above, taking up the slack and pulling as much as they 
could. When the boats were over they were reloaded and pushed 
ahead, and poled from there to Fort Winnebago. Excepting in low 
water, they would have to make half-loads over the Winnebago Rapids 
at Neenah, and with a fair wind would sail through Lake Winnebago." 

In 1834, Henry Merrill was appointed sutler at Fort Winnebago. 
He purchased a large stock of goods in New York, which he shipped to 
Fort Winnebago, and conducted a general mercantile business. Mr. 
Merrill resided here from that time until his death, which occurred 
May 5, 1876. He was a member of the senate of the first state legisla- 
ture, and, as one of Wisconsin's early settlers, made a record upon 
which there is no blemish. 

Milwaukee. 
Aside from the storm-bound Jesuits who stopped at Milwaukee, 
Jacques Vieau was the first white man that came to Milwaukee, and the 
first to engage in the Indian trade. His name originally was DeVeau, 
but was changed to Vieau, in "self-defense," as Veau, in French, meant 
calf, or veal. Vieau was a full-blooded Frenchman, and was born at 
Cour de Neige, in the suburbs of Montreal, May 5, 1757. In 7786, he 
married Angeline, daughter of Joseph LeRoy, the trader at Green Bay. 
Mrs. Vieau was the niece of Onongesa, a Pottawattamie chief. Their 
children were a dozen in number, and named Madeline, Josette, Paul, 
Jacques, Louis, Joseph, Amable, Charles, Andrew, Nicholas, Peter, and 
Mary.* 

*Madeline became Mrs. Thibeau, and died at Stevens Point in 1877, at the age of 
seventy-eight 

Josette, the daughter of Vieau by another consort, became the wife of Laurent 
Solomon Juneau. She was reared in the Vieau family on an equal footing with the 
other children. 

Paul died in Kansas in 1865. 

Jacques kept the "Cottage" in Milwaukee, for many years, commencing in 1835. 
He died in Kansas in 1875. 

Jacques Vieau, Jr., the keeper of the " Cottage " or "Triangle " inn, is frequently 
confounded with Jacques Vieau, Sr., by writers. The son commenced business about 
the time that the father retired ; hence the confusion. 



EARLY SETTLERS AND SETTLEMENTS. 173 

In 1793, Jacques Vieau went to Mackinaw from Montreal as a 
voyegeur lor the Northwestern Fur Company. He was at this time about 
forty-two years of age. His first trip in that capacity was to La Pointe, 
in Chickamaugun bay. The next year, he returned to La Pointe as a 
clerk for the company, and, in 1795, was sent out as the company's 
agent, with a supply of goods, to explore and establish posts on the west 
shore of Lake Michigan. The supply of goods was placed in a large 
Mackinaw boat, manned by twelve men, while Vieau, with his mother, 
wife, and children, followed in a large bark canoe, in which was stored 
the camp equipage. Vieau was also accompanied by his faithful clerk, 
Mike le Petteel. This expedition, which started from Mackinaw in July, 
camped where Kewaunee is now situated, and established a ''jack-knife 
post" near there, and left a man in charge of it. This post was located 
on what was called Jean Beau Creek by the Ottawas. This was the 
Indian name for Jacques Vieau. He also established a post at Sheboy- 
gan, at the foot of the rapids on the north side, and there left a clerk. 
He also located a post at Manitowoc, near the rapids, and perhaps at 
other places. 

The expedition arrived at Milwaukee on the i8th or 20th of August, 
1795,* where he met, at the mouth of the river, a large number of Potta- 
wattamies, intermingled with Sacs and Foxes, and a few Winnebagoes, 
who had married into other tribes. Vieau was warmly welcomed by the 
Indians, who told him that he was the first white man they had seen 
there. A mile and a half up the Menominee river, on the south side, at 
the foot of Lime Ridge, he erected two log buildings, one for a dwelling, 
and the other for a warehouse. According to the statement of Andrew 
J. Vieau, Sr., the site of these buildings was owned by James W. Larkin, 
during the late civil war. The site of the store and dwelling was plainly 
visible, and identified from the remains of banks of earth which had 
surrounded them. 

During the winter of 1795-96, and in fact for the next few years, 
Vieau remained at his Milwaukee post. Each spring, after packing up 
the winter peltries and buying maple-sugar from the Indians, he would 
start out with his family and goods, on his return to Mackinaw, after 
leaving a clerk in charge of the post, to superintend the planting of corn 
and potatoes and purchase summer furs. Upon his return trip he would 
stop at his various "jack-knife posts," and collect their furs and maple- 
Louis became chief of the Pottawattamies in Kansas, and there died in 1876, after 
having accumulated a large estate. 

Joseph died at Green Bay in 1879, at the age of seventy-five years, leaving a large 
family of children. 

Amable, who became noted among the early fur-traders at Milwaukee, died at his 
home in Muskego, Waukesha county, on October 31, 1876. 
Charles died in Kansas in 1876. 

Nicholas was born in 1826, " just opposite the present stock-yards in Milwaukee." 
Peter was born at the same place, January 10, 1830. 

*According to the History of Milwaukee County, 71, Vieau came to Milwaukee as 
early as 1776. 



174 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

sugar, sometimes relieving the men stationed at the posts by substitutes. 
The return trip to Mackinaw, with fair weather, took about a month. 
In August, he would set out again, distributing goods to the lake shore 
posts, and stay at Milwaukee until the next May. 

In 1797-9, while still in charge of the various "jack-knife posts" 
on the west shore of Lake Michigan, he was ordered to the Fox-Wiscon- 
sin portage, and there remained in the fur company's behalf, for two or 
three seasons in the employ of the company. Laurent Solomon Juneau 
was detailed as his clerk, and thus Juneau, at the age of twenty-one 
years, arrived at the Milwaukee river in August of that year with Mr. 
Vieau. The next year, Mr. Vieau withdrew as agent for the American 
Fur Company, and procured the agency for Juneau, who, in the mean- 
time, had married Josette Vieau, the daughter of the old trader. Juneau's 
home became Green Bay, until about 1834-35, at which time he settled 
permanently at Milwaukee.* 

In 1819, Vieau was equipped by Michael Dousman, of Chicago, and 
for several years traded at his old post on the Menomonie river. In 
1836, at the age of seventy-four years, he removed to his homestead at 
Green Bay, where he remained up to the time of his death, which 
occurred at Fort Howard, on July i, 1852. His remains lie buried in 
the French-Catholic burying-ground at Shanty Town. Mrs. Vieau died 
at the home of her brother Joseph, in the town of Lawrence, Brown 
county, January 7, 1862, at the age of about one hundred and five years. 
Jean Mirandeau came to Milwaukee shortly after Mr. Vieau, and, 
according to the narrative of A. J. Vieau, he was employed by the elder 
Vieau to do blacksmith work. Mirandeau married a Pottawattamie 
squaw, with whom he lived up to the time of his death in the spring of 
1819. After his death, Mrs. Mirandeau and her children lived among 
the Pottawattamies again, except Victoria, who was raised by the 
Kinzies, in Chicago. In 1822, Victoria married a Canadian named 
Joseph Porthier, and is said to be still living near Milwaukee. 

Albert Fowler arrived at Milwaukee, November 12, 1833, and, thir- 
teen months later, Horace Chase came. Upon the latter's arrival, he 
found fovir settlers in addition to the Juneaus.f 

In 1834, the Indian population at this place was principally Potta- 
wattamies, intermingled with Sacs and Winnebagoes. They were lazy 
fellows, and preferred to hunt and fish during the summer months, 
instead of cultivating corn. They were noted gamblers, principally 
playing the mocassin game and lacrosse, and were much given to 
debauchery. During the winter season these fellows divided into small 
hunting parties, and scattered through the woods, but in the summer 
the bark wigwams housed from a thousand to fifteen hundred Indians of 
all ages and conditions. 

*Wis. Hist. Coll., Vol. XL, 218-224. 

fBuck's Pioneer History of Milwaukee, 12-15. 



EARLY SETTLERS AND SETTLEMENTS. 175 

On the old Junean marsh and adjacent lands, where now are the 
Dusy streets of Water, Main, Milwaukee, Jefferson, and Jackson, grazed 
the Indian ponies in great droves in those early days. At an earlier 
period, as far back as 1823, a large part of this territory was flooded, and 
was the home of myriads of water-fowl. On the lime ridge was a large 
Indian settlement. Some of the most industrious of the Indian families 
would raise as much as one hundred and fifty bushels of corn and a 
considerable amount of potatoes. On the west side of the Milwaukee, 
opposite Jvmeau's place, lived the Indian chief Kenozhazhum (lake 
pickerel); on the lime ridge old Pohquaygeegon (bread) held full sway, 
while on the Kinnikinnick river, Oseebwaisum (cornstalk) was the chief 
of the Kinnikinnick band. Chief Palmaipottoke (the runner), with a 
small party, was stationed between Walker's Point and the Menomonie. 

According to the " Recollections "of Augustin Grignon, one Alexan- 
der La Framboise, from INIackinaw, located a trading post at Milwaukee 
about 1785. He shortly returned to Mackinaw, and sent a brother who 
managed the business, resided there several years, and raised a family.* 

Some of the statements contained in Grignon's Recollections, are 
somewhat misty and uncorroborated. During the first decade of the 
present century, several traders established temporary trading posts at 
this place, among whom were Laurent Fily, who represented the 
interests of Jacob Franks, of Green Bay, John B. Beaubien, Antoine 
Le Claire, Sr., and "old" John Kinzie. The Green Bay Intelligencer, 
bearing date April 16, 1834, contains the following editorial: 

"The Milwaukee county is attracting much attention. A settle- 
ment has commenced near its mouth; and there can be no doubt it will 
be much visited during the coming seasons by northern emigrants, and 
by all who fear the bilious fevers and other diseases of more southern 
latitudes. Two or three young men from the state of New York have 
commenced the erection of a saw-mill on the first rapid, about three 
miles above the mouth of the Milwaukee river." 

Among the numerous enterprising men who came to Milwaukee in 
1835, were Daniel Wells, Jr., W. W. Oilman, George D. Dousman, 
Talbot C. Dousman, E. W. Edgerton, J. Hathaway, Jr., Brown, 
George O. Tiffany, James Sanderson, James Clyman, Otis Hubbard, 
Daniel H. Richards, Benoni W. Finch, George Reed, Enoch Chase, 
Horace Chase, William Brown, Jr., Milo Jones, Enoch Darling, Albert 
Fowler, C. Harmon, B. Douglass, W. Maitland, Alanson Sweet, Henry 
West, James H. Rodgers, Samuel Hinman, Mr. Loomis, Dr. Clarke, 
and Mr. Childs. 

Laurent Solomon Juneau was of pure Alsatian French parentage. 
He was born August 8, 1793, at' L'Asumption parish, near Montreal, 
Canada. His certificate of naturalization is signed by Peter B. Grignon, 
clerk of Brown county, and dated at Green Bay, the nth day of August, 

*Wis. Hist. Coll., Vol. III., 290-292, 



176 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

1831. Mr. Juneau was one of the most trusted friends of John Jacob 
Astor, Ramsey Crooks and other members of the American Fur Com- 
pany. Juneau died November 14, 1856, at Shawano, and was buried at 
that place by the Indians, but was subsequently removed to Milwaukee 
and buried in the old cemetery on Spring street, and afterwards at Cal- 
vary. Mrs. Juneau died the previous year on November ig, 1855, at 
Milwaukee. 

It has been said that no trader lived on this continent for whom the 
Indians entertained a more profound respect. The chiefs in solemn 
council summoned their braves to attend the funeral. In the middle of 
the night preceding the burial, an old squaw, the wife of a chief, entered 
the apartment, and kneeling before the body, clasped her hands in silent 
prayer. Many incidents occurred of Indian homage. These women 
were Catholics. The order of the funeral was as follows: 

*'ist. Priest in full canonicals, followed by Indian choir, chanting 
funeral forms. 

"2d. Ten pallbearers, four whites and six Indians (Oshkosh, Car- 
ron, Lancet, Keshenah and others). 

''3d. The employes of the agenc}^, male and female. 

*'4th. Indian women and Indians, two abreast, to the number of six 
hundred or seven hundred." 

Solomon Juneau was buried upon an elevation, far above the agency 
council-house and burial-ground of the Indians. His resting place com- 
manded a view of the Wolf as it defiled away into the wilderness of 
distant hills, and overlooked the hunting grounds, which, in years gone 
by, he had so frequently traversed. 

Fond du Lac. 

Tradition says that the early French traders were here more than 
two hundred years ago. It is, however, an established fact that a trad- 
ing post was established in 1787, at the forks of the Fond du Lac river, 
by Jacob Franks, of Green Bay, and occupied by his clerk, Jacques 
Porthier. 

In the summer of 1797, John Lawe, the nephew of Jacob Franks, 
then a young man sixteen years of age, operated for his uncle a trading 
post at this place. Augustin Grignon had a trading post on the west 
branch of the Fond du Lac river, near where the shops of the C. & N.- 
W. R'y were erected. This was shortly subsequent to 1791. One of 
the earliest traders in this locality was Laurent du Charme. Then came 
Ace, a Spaniard, then Chavodreuil, and later Michael Brisbois. Subse- 
quently, Peter Grignon, a nephew of Augustin Grignon, passed one 
winter on the west branch, just below First street. Ace located, as did 
Laurent du Charme, where Taycheedah is now located. Ace and his 
clerk were enticed a short distance from their trading posts by some 
Indians of the Rock river band, and murdered. The Indians now 
endeavored to enter the house, but were kept at bay until some friendly 



EARLY SETTLERS AND SETTLEMENTS. 177 

Indians arrived from the Taycheedah village. Mrs. Ace was conveyed 
by her friends to Green Bay, with her family and the goods at the post. 
An Indian trader, named Chavodruil, selected the post formerly occupied 
by Ace, for his winter-quarters, and employed a Menomonie Indian to 
hunt and supply him with meat. This Indian hunter, who lived with 
his wife in a wigwam near by, became jealous of the trader, and one day 
shot him. 

Joseph Roulette and Michael Brisbois, during the early part of the 
present century, traded occasionally at this point. In those early days 
the white traders would sometimes ascend the Fond du Lac river, with 
their canoes laden with goods, and make a portage of about two miles to 
the Rock river, then descend that stream to the Mississippi. This was 
not the usual route to the Mississippi, but it brought them to many 
Indian villages that they could not otherwise reach. The Indian trade 
greatly sought for was that of the Winnebagoes, who had a village where 
Taycheedah now is, the Indian village at Pipe creek, on the east shore 
of Lake Winnebago, and the various villages along the Fond du Lac 
and Rock rivers. These trading stations were temporary affairs ; the 
houses of the whites built only for temporary purposes. These early 
traders would sometimes carry their packs of merchandise upon their 
backs from Green Bay. Even Solomon Juneau would occasionally 
leave his home, where Milwaukee now stands, with eighty pounds of 
merchandise on his back, go to Sheboygan, thence to Lake Winnebago, 
then return by way of the villages at the head of the lake. 

The first white men that came to this place with the view of perma- 
nently settling, were Colwert Pier and his 3^ounger brother Edward. 
They started from Green Bay, on February 16, 1836, with a horse and 
sled, ostensibly with the object of locating at the head of Lake Winne- 
bago, if the country suited them. The first night they stopped at the 
site where the Stockbridge mission was afterwards established. They 
staid with a Stockbridge family, named Jordan, who had a small cabin 
and a shed. The next day they arrived at the spot on the Fond du Lac 
river which was so long occupied as the residence of George McWilliams, 
where they camped for the night. They were here met by Doty, Dr. 
Satterlee, Lieutenant Merrill, and a soldier named Collins. After 
locating some land, the two brothers started out on their return trip to 
the Bay, which they reached the second day. At the close of May, Mr. 
Pier started on horseback from Green Bay, to establish the first settle- 
ment in Fond du Lac county. His wife, in company with Mrs. Robean, 
followed IMr. Pier in a Durham boat, commanded by Captain Irwin, and 
propelled by Indians and half-breeds. Prior to the arrival of Mrs. Pier 
and her companion, the "Fond du Lac House" had been erected by 
the Fond du Lac Company. 

A laughable incident is told of Mrs. Pier's early experience at their 
new home. Upon their arrival, she immediately took hold, helped put 



178 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

up the stove, and was getting the house in good order, when a squaw 
came in, and by signs made Mrs. Pier understand that she desired to 
exchange feathers for flour. Mrs. Pier made the desired trade with the 
Indian woman, but, within half an hour, her room was literally over- 
flowing with squaws, wishing to "swap" feathers for pork. That 
afternoon, Mrs. Pier bought sufficient feathers from the squaws to 
make two good-sized feather-beds, and paid for them in that valuable 
commodity, pork and flour. 

From June, 1836, to March 11, 1837, Colwert Pier and his wife 
were the only residents in Fond du Lac county. Upon March nth, 
Edward Pier arrived at the "Fond du Lac House," bringing with him 
his wife and two daughters. On June ist, the same year, Norman Pier, 
from Vermont, and Albert Kendall, from the same state, arrived. On 
the 17th of the same month. Miss Harriet Pier, who afterwards became 
Mrs. Alonzo Raymond, arrived here. 

The first great sadness which afflicted this little colony was the 
death of Mrs. Colwert Pier, who died on the ist day of March, 1838, 
after a short illness. The funeral sermon was preached by the Rev. 
Cutting Marsh, missionary to the Stockbridge Indians. The funeral 
was held on March 3, 1838. 





U N 



5 c 
.S o 



Chapter XXIII. 
BLACK HAWK— WARS IN WHICH HE PARTICIPATED. 

Black Hawk's Ancestors. — His Birth. — Early Life. — Death of His Father. — Success 
in Battles. — Habits of Life. — Dancing and Feasts. — Origin of Corn-Superstition. 

Ma-Ka-tri-me-she-Kia-Kiak, or Black Sparrow Hawk, who is known in 
history as Black Hawk, was a chief of the confederation of certain Sac and Fox 
Indian tribes. 

Indian tradition shows that the Great Spirit placed the Sac nation origi- 
nally in the vicinity of Montreal,* Canada, and that, through jealousy and 
other causes, the various tribes near Montreal united and drove them to 
Mackinaw. 

After a short time, their old enemies pursued and drove them from place 
to place on Lake Michigan, until they finally located and built a village at or 
near the present site of Green Bay. At their new village, a council was held 
with the Foxes in that vicinity, and an alliance was formed, which united the 
two tribes as one nation. The united nation, however, was not destined to 
enjoy the peace but for a short duration, as their old enemies with perseverance 
and characteristic hatred drove them to the Wisconsin river, upon whose 
fertile banks they built themselves a model village, near the present site of 
Prairie du Sact 

At this point, the united Sacs and Foxes staid and enjoyed their new hunt- 
ing grounds for a considerable space of time, until finally a party of young men 
who had descended the Rock river to its mouth, returned with such vivid and 
richly-painted descriptions of the country near the Rock river, and adjacent 
Mississippi valley, that they all descended to the Rock river and drove the 
Kas-Kas-Kias from the country, and built themselves a new village in the 
midst of a veritable Indian paradise, near the junction of the Rock river with 
the Mississippi. 

"Montreal is l)uilt upon the site of the old hidian village called Hochelaga, which was 
discovered by Jacques Cartier, in September, 1535- The first white men the Sacs ever saw 
were the French, who gave them guns, powder, lead, spears and lances, and taught them 
their use. 

tjonathan Carver, the celebrated English traveler, who traveled through Wisconsin in 
1776, described a Sac village located at this point in the following graphic manner: 

" It contained about ninety houses, each large enough for several families, built of 
heavy planks neatly joined, and covered so compactly with bark as to keep out the most 
penetrating rains. Before the doors were' placed comfortable sheds in which the inhabitants 
sat when tiie weather would permit and smoked their pipes. The streets were both regular 
and spacious, appearing more like a civilized town than the abode of savages. The land 
was rich, and corn, l)eans and melons were raised in large quantities." Possibly only a por- 
tion of the Sacs left Prairie du Sac for Rock Island, as Black Hawk's ancestors left that 
vicinity more than fifty years before Capt. Carver traveled through the Mississippi country. 

179 



i8o HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

At this picturesque spot, near the Father of Waters, amidst nature's solemn 
grandeur, Black Hawk was born in 1767.* He was the last descendant of a 
long line of Sac kings or chiefs, and inherited the great medicine bags of his 
great-grandfather, Muk-a-ta-quet, which were handed down to his father, 
Pyesa, by his grandfather, Na-Na-ma-kee, or Thunder. t 

Nothing of importance occurred until after Black Hawk had passed his 
fifteenth birthday. Up to this time, he had not been allowed to paint or wear 
feathers, but now, in consequence of having wounded an enemy, he was placed 
in the rank of braves. 

Shortly after this event, a leading chief of the Muscow nation recruited a 
party of Sac and Fox warriors under Pyesa, to go on the warpath against their 
common enemy, the Osages, Avho lived beyond the Missouri. Shortly after 
they got into the enemy's country, an engagement took place, during which 
Pyesa killed an Osage warrior and scalped him in the presence of young Black 
Hawk, who, fired with valor, rushed upon an Osage brave and struck him to 
the ground with his tomahawk, and after running his lance through his body, 
and before life was hardly extinct, his scalp-lock was hanging in the belt of the 
young Sac. 

After many Osages had been slaughtered, Pyesa and his band returned to 
their village and held a scalp-dance. 

During the next few years, the Osages remained undisturbed in their 
numerous trespasses upon the hunting grounds of the Sac and Fox nations, 
and, in consequence of these numerous raids and depredations. Black Hawk 
raised a band of two hundred picked warriors, and took the trail leading into 
the Osage country. The Osages, with an equal number of warriors, met them 
near the Missouri, and a bloody battle ensued, in which more than a hundred 
Osages were killed and many wounded. Black Hawk's losses were nineteen 
killed and several wounded. In this engagement Black Hawk killed and 
scalped five Osage warriors. 

Shortly after this engagement, while fighting the Cherokees near the Mer- 
rimac. Black Hawk's father, Pyesa, received a fatal wound, from whose eftects 
he soon died. Black Hawk now fell heir to the great medicine hags of his fore- 
fathers. Upon their arrival home. Black Hawk blackened his face and fasted 
and prayed for a period of five years, out of respect for his dead father. 

When Black Hawk's period of mourning was over, he raised 500 Sac and 
Fox warriors and 100 lowas, with the determination of extirpating the Osages, 
who, during the period of his mourning, had committed numerous depredations 
upon the Sac and Fox and adjacent hunting grounds. After several days of 
forced marches, they finally struck the Osage trail, and the next night at sun- 

*Smith's Wis. Hist., Vol. III., 162. 
tl.ife of Black Hawk. 



BLACK HAWK— WARS IN WHICH UK PARTICIPATED. i8i 

down they fell upon forty lodges of Osages, and killed all the inhabitants, 
except two squaws whom they took home as prisoners. 

Before many years elapsed, the Chippewas, Kas-Kas-Kias and the Osages 
confederated and trespassed upon the Sac and Fox hunting grounds. Black 
Hawk again raised a large force and commenced a long and arduous campaign, 
during which several hundred of the enemy were killed, thirteen of whom were 
slain by Black Hawk. 

During these times the Indian village at the mouth of the Rock river was 
well maintained. The hunting, fishing and trapping was good, and they made 
their periodical trips to St. Louis, w'here they sold their furs and pelts to the 
Spanish, who used them well, paid them good prices, and allowed them to camp 
and dance in the town at their pleasure. 

The law and order that prevailed in this celebrated Indian village, for more 
than a century, would put to shame many of our nineteenth century Christians. 

Before the Indians returned to their village in the spring from their hunting 
grounds, they w'ould call upon the trader that had supplied them with goods in 
the fall, and, after paying their debts, and bartering furs and pelts, they would 
return to their village with some of their finest furs and pelts, well knowing that 
the anxious trader would follow them to their village and pay them higher 
prices.* 

After the last of the furs and peltries were disposed of, and the trader had 
started away in his canoe, after leaving a keg or two of rum, "the old folks 
would take a frolic." 

Then came the great Medicine dance, the burying of those who had died 
during the year.t At this feast of the dead, the relatives would give away all 
their goods and reduce themselves to poverty, in order to show the Great Spirit 
that they humbled themselves so that he Avould take pity upon them. 

After the feast was over, they would open the caches and take out the corn 
and ])rovisions stored there the fall before ; then they repaired their lodges and 
rebuilt their fences around their cornfields, while the women busied themselves 
cleaning the ground ready for planting. When the planting time arrived, the 
women planted the corn, while the men exchanged adventures and feasted upon 
venison, bear's meat, fowl, and corn prepared in various ways. J 

After the corn was planted, the Crane dance and a feast was given. In 
this dance the women joined the men, dressed in their most gaudy attire. It 
is at this dance that the young brave selects the dusky maiden he desires for a 
wife.§ After he selects one he desires to marry, he informs his mother, who 

"The traders were numerous, and mucli competition was displayeil by the earlv fur- 
traders on the Mississippi. 

tThe Indians were buried shortly after they died, but were e.\humed next year, in the 
spring, and reburied in the village burying-ground. 

iLife of Black Hawk, 59. 

^S Life of Black Hawk. 



i82 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

calls upon the mother of the girl, and they fix a tnne for the young man to call 
at the lodge. At night, when all are supposed to be sleeping, he enters the 
lodge of his adored, and with a flint and steel strikes a light and soon finds his 
intended. He then awakes her, and after holding the light to his face, he holds 
it close to hers. If she blows it out, the ceremony is ended, but if she leaves it 
burning, he leaves the lodge. The next day the lover places himself in view of 
the lodge of his intended and plays a love ditty upon a flute. If other maidens 
come out, he changes the tune, but if the chosen one comes in sight, he again 
l)lays his courting tune. That night he again goes through the same ceremony 
and usually with success, as the dusky maidens, like their white sisters, do not 
always say yes when they are first asked. 

The Crane dance, which usually lasts two or three days, being over, and 
several days having been spent in feasting, the great national dance is given. 

A large, square space m the center of the village is swept clean; on the 
upper side of the square, mats are spread for the chiefs and old warriors ; then 
come the drummers and singers, while the braves and women form the sides, 
leaving a large space in the center. When the drums beat, the singing com- 
menced. At the same time, a warrior enters the center of the square, keeping 
time to the music, then, in pantomime, shows the manner in which he started 
on the warpath, or some expedition, how he stealthily approached the enemy, 
the awful combat, the death scene, the scalping, the scalp-dance, the final suc- 
cess or failure. The warrior then retires, and "while being applauded, another 
warrior takes his place. The dance incited the young to deeds of valor, and 
made the old warriors young again. 

The corn, while growing, was never molested by the Indians until fit for 
use; then they held another ceremony, which they called the corn feast; dur- 
ing this feast they all thanked the Great Spirit for giving them the corn. 

The Sacs have a pretty and romantic tradition of the origin of corn. 

Two Sacs, after having killed and dressed a deer, sat down by a fire and 
were roasting a piece of it, when a beautiful woman came down from the 
clouds, and seated herself a short distance from them. The Indians, thinking 
she had smelled the roasting venison and was hungry, offered her a delicious 
piece, which she accepted and ate. She then reciuested them to return to that 
spot, one year from that time, and they would find a suitable reward for their 
hospitality. She then disappeared in the clouds, and the Indians returned to 
camp, and told their companions of what had occurred, and were heartily 
laughed at by them. When the time arrived for them to visit the mystic spot, 
they went with a large party and found, at the right of where she sat, corn 
growing; at the left, beans ; and, where she had been seated, tobacco.* 

From this time henceforth, hospitality became a part of the Indian religion. 

'^Life of Black Hawk. 



IJLACK HAWK— WARS IN WHICH HE PARTICIPATED. 183 

\\'hen the national dance was over, the corn lioed, every weed dug up, 
and the corn about knee high, the young men and warriors started towards 
"sundown," to hunt deer and bufflilo. The old men, women and children 
went to the lead mines to make lead, and to catch fish and get matting 
materials. 

The village was totally deserted for about forty days; then the young men 
and warriors arrived from the west, with venison and buffalo meat, and some- 
times Sioux scalps.* About the same time the old men, women and children 
arrived at the village with lead, dried fish and mats. 

This being the season of plenty, feasts were given in honor of the Great 
Spirit, who had bountifully supplied them with all they had asked for. 

Black Hawk, in speaking of the feast, says: " Every one makes his feast 
as he thinks best, to please the Great Spirit, who has the care of all things 
created. Others believe in two spirits, one good and one bad, and make feasts 
for the bad spirit to keep him quiet. For my part, I am of the opinion that 
so far as we have reason, we have a right to use it in determining what is right 
or wrong." 

Next comes the great ball play, with from three to five hundred on a side. 
This game was played for guns, horses, and different kinds of property. Then 
came the horse racing and feasting, which contmued until the corn was ripe 
and secured. 

The traders then arrived, and gave them credit for guns, ammunition, 
clothing, and everything necessary. The traders were informed of the place 
where they intended to hunt, and instructed where to build their houses. At 
this point, corn and provisions were left, together with the old men, women 
and children. The band then divided, and in small parties went to make the 
hunt, and, when the hunt was over, they all met at the traders' establishments. 

Some writers strongly intimate that the Sac and Fox tribes that left Green 
Bay in 1 733 1 were the Sacs spoken of by Carver, as being located at Prairie 
du Sac, in 1767, and afterwards the founders of the Sac and Fox village, at the 
junction of the Rock river with the Mississippi. Such, however, could not 
have been the fact, as Black Hawk was born at the Indian village at the mouth 
of the Rock river in 1767, and, according to the tradition of his ancestors, 
the village had been located at that pomt about fifty years. 

*Wherever the Sioux were found trespassing lliey were slain. 
tWis. Hist. Coll., Vol. III., 148. 




Black Hawk in 1833. 
From an oil painting in the Wis. Hist. Society's Rooms. 



Chapter XXIV. 

Fraudulent Treaty of 1804. — War of 1812. — Black Hawk and His People Dissatisfied. — 
Presents Made by British. — Meets Col. Dickson at Green Bay with Two Hundred Warriors. 
— Col. Dickson's Speech. — Black Hawk Takes Command of Five Hundred Warriors at Green 
Bay. — Fort Dearborn Massacre. — Assists British in Vicinity of Lake Erie. — Returns to Rock 
Island. 

Black Hawk's account of the causes leading up to the wars in which he 
participated, as given by himself in " The Life of Black Hawk," edited by J. 
B. Patterson, of Rock Island, and certified to October 16, 1833, by Antoine 
Le Claire, United States interpreter for the Sacs and Foxes, is undoubtedly true 
in every material ])articular, and has been accepted as authentic for more than 
half a centuj-y. 

Several "moons" prior to November 3, 1804, one of Black Hawk's 
people killed an American on the Mississippi river, and was arrested and im- 
prisoned at St. Louis. Black Hawk's people held a council " which deter- 
mined that Quash-Qua-me, Pashe-paho, Oche-qua-Ka and Has-he-quat-he- 
(jui should go down to St. Louis and see the American Father, and do all they 
could to have our friend released by paying for the person killed. Thus cov- 
ering the blood and satisfying the relatives of the man wounded. This being 
the only means with us, of saving a person who has killed another, and we 
then thought it was the same with the whites."* 

This delegation remained absent a long time, and, when they finally 
arrived home, they were dressed in fine clothes and wore medals. The next 
morning after they arrived, a council lodge was convened, and received from 
Quash-Qua-me and his party, the following account of their mission at St. 
Louis : 

" On their arrival at St. Louis, they met their American Father, and 
explained to him their business, and urged a release of their friend. The 
American Chief told them he wanted land, and they had agreed to give him 
some on the west side of the Mississippi and some on the Illinois side, opposite 
the Jeffreon. 

" When the business was all arranged, they expected to have their friend 
reheved to come home with them, but, about the time they were ready to start, 
their friend was let out of prison, who ran a short distance and was shot dead. 
This is all they could recollect of what was said and done. They had been 
drunk the greater part of the time they were in St. Louis, "t 

'Smith's History of Wisconsin, Vol. III., 115. 

tThe above is Black Hawk's language as ipioted from "The Life of Black Hawk," 
Smith's History of Wis., Vol. ILL, 116. 

185 



i86 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

Under the conditions of this treaty,* which was conceived in fraud and 
born in sin, the united Sac and Fox tribes, in consideration oi goods in hand 
deUvered of the value of $2,234.50, and a yearly annuity of $1,000 to be paid 
in goods at first cost, ceded to the United States the lands situated within the 
following boundaries : 

'•Beginning at a point on the Missouri river, opposite the mouth of the 
Gasconde river, thence in a direct course so as to strike the river Jeftreon at a 
distance of thirty miles from its mouth, and down said Jefifreon, to the Missis- 
sippi ; thence up the Mississippi to the mouth of the Wisconsin river ; up the 
same to a point which shall be thirty-six miles in a direct line from the mouth of 
said river; thence, by a direct line, to a point where the Fox river (a branch 
of the Illinois) leaves the small lake called Sakaegan ; thence down the Fox 
river to the Illinois river and down the same to the Mississippi." 

This treaty ceded to the United States more than fifty-one million acres of 
the best land on the continent, which included within its borders the Indian 
village which had been the home of Black Hawk and his ancestors for nearly a 
hundred years, t 

With reference to this treaty, Black Hawk says: "I will leave it to the 
people of the United States, to say whether our nation was properly represented 
in this treaty, or whether we received a fair consideration for the country ceded 
by those four individuals. It has been the cause of all our troubles. "| 

The manner in which the signatures of at least four of the Sac and Fox rep- 
resentatives were obtained, together with the insignificant sum paid for so valua- 
ble a tract of land, is enough to cause other than humanitarians to blush at the 
pronounced duplicity of the government. It is one of those wrongs that time 
cannot efface. 

The first event that transpired after the treaty of 1804, which excited the 
ire of Black Hawk and his nation, was the building of Fort Madison, the same 
year, above Des Moines Rapids, and within the territory fraudulently ceded to 
the United States. 

The chiefs of Black Hawk's nation held a council with the officers from 
the fort, and were informed by them that the houses were being built for a 
trader, who was coming there to live, and would sell the Indians goods very 
cheap, and that the soldiers were to remain and keep the trader company. 

The Indians accepted this story with many grains of doubt, as an attempt 
was shortly afterwards made by a " dancing party " to enter the fort by strat- 

'"Black Hawk always maintained that the only knowledge that either he or his nation had 
of the treaty was through the four assumed representatives, and that they had no power or 
authority whatsoever to enter into any treaty or compact. 

tThe date of the establishment of the Indian village at the mouth of the Rock river is 
unknown. 

{Life of Black Hawk, 24. 



BLACK HAWK— WARS IN WHICH HE PARTICIPATED. 187 

egy, which was frustrated. Black Hawk acknowledged that had the Indians 
gotten into the fort, the whites would all have been massacred. 

The Shawnee prophet on the Wabash, and the Winnebagoes, shortly after 
Black Hawk's futile attempt to enter Fort Madison, induced him and several 
parties of his nation to join the Winnebagoes and make a second attempt to 
enter the fort. Black Hawk, through his spies, which had been sent out 
several days in advance, ascertained that about fifty soldiers of the garrison at 
Fort Madison marched out every morning at sunrise to drill. Black Hawk 
accordingly laid his plans to ambush the soldiers when they came out, and for 
the Indians to rush into the fort. The attempt proved unsuccessful. Three 
whites were killed and the fort was besieged for three days, during which time 
the buildings were several times fired by burning arrows, but the fires were 
extinguished without serious injury. The ammunition of the Indians finally 
gave out and they raised the siege. The Indians had one Winnebago killed 
and one wounded. 

Shortly prior to the war of 18 12, news reached Black Hawk, through his 
runners, that the United States and England were about to go to war. The 
United States, being desirous of retaining the friendship of Black Hawk and 
his nation, requested that some of the leading chiefs should go to Washington 
and have a talk with the Great Father. 

Black Hawk's people complied with the request, and sent a delegation of 
chiefs and leading men to Washington. Upon their return they said that the 
Great Father wished them, in the event of war taking place with England, to 
remain neutral, to hunt, support their families and live in peace, and promised 
them that the trader at Fort Madison would supply them in the fall with goods 
on credit, as the British traders had previously done. 

Black Hawk .says: "This information pleased us all very much ; we all 
agreed to follow our Great Father's advice and not interfere with the war. 
Our women were much pleased with the good news, everything went on cheer- 
fully in our village. We resumed our pastimes of playing ball, horse racing, 
and dancing, which had been laid aside when this great war was first talked 
about. We had fine crops of corn which were now ripe, and our women were 
engaged in gathering it and making caches to contain it. 

" In a short time, we were ready to start for Fort Madison to get our 
supplies of goods that we might proceed to our hunting grounds. 

" Next morning, we arrived at Fort Madison and made our encampment, 
myself and principal men paying a visit to the war-chief at the fort. He re- 
ceived us kindly. We waited a long time, expectmg the trader would tell us 
that he had orders from our Great Father to supply us with goods, but he said 
nothing on the subject. I got up and told him in a short speech what we had 
come for, and hoped he had plenty of goods to supply us, and told him he 



i88 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

would be well paid in the spring, and concluded by informing him that we had 
determined to follow our Great Father's advice, and not go to war. He said he 
was happy to hear that we intended to remain at peace ; that he had a large 
quantity of goods, and that, if we made a good hunt, we should be well sup- 
plied ; but remarked that he had received no orders to furnish us anything on 
credit, nor could he give us any without pay for them on the spot. 

" We left the fort dissatisfied and went to our camp. What was now to be 
done, we knew not. We questioned the party that brought us the news from 
our Great Father, that we should get credit for our winter supply at this place; 
they still told the same story and insisted upon its truth. Few of us slept that 
night. All was gloom and despair." 

The British, ever on the alert to secure such allies as Black Hawk, sent an 
express to him from Rock Island, containing presents, which arrived at Black 
Hawk's camp the morning after the trader at Fort Madison had refused to give 
them credit for their winter supply. The express also brought the news that 
La Gurtie,* a British trader, was at Rock Island with two boats, loaded with 
goods, and requested Black Hawk and his people to come immediately, as he 
had presents for them. 

Black Hawk's party was not long in going to Rock Island, where they 
were heartily received by La Gurtie, the British agent, who gave them the two 
boat-loads of goods. While the Indians were dividing the goods, La Gurtie 
took Black Hawk aside and informed him that Col. Dickson was at Green Bay 
with twelve boats loaded with guns and ammunition, and that he desired Black 
Hawk to raise a party immediately and join him there. La Gurtie said that 
another trader was at Peoria collecting Pottawattamies, and would be at Green 
Bay ahead of them. 

Black Hawk immediately raised a party of two hundred warriors and 
departed for Green Bay, where, upon his arrival, he found a large encampment 
of British soldiers and Indians, under the command of Col. Dickson. 

In the evening Black Hawk visited the encampment and found a large 
number of Pottawattamies, Kickapoos, Ottawas and Winnebagoes. He visited 
all their camps and found them in high spirits. They had all received new 
guns, ammunition, and a variety of clothing, t 

The next evening after the arrival of Black Hawk, Col. Dickson received 
him in his tent in presence of other war-chiefs and an interpreter, and after 
heartily shaking him by the hand, he introduced him to the other chiefs and, 
after seating him, said : 

" General Black Hawk, I sent for you, to explain to you, what we are 
going to do, and the reason that has brought us here. Your English Father 

*I-a Gurtie was a French Canadian trader and British agent. 
fSmith's History of Wisconsin, Vol. III., 121. 



BLACK HAWK— WARS IN WHICH HE PARTICIPATED. 189 

has t'ound out that the Americans want to take your country from you, and has 
sent me and his braves to drive them back to their own country. He has also 
sent a hirge cjuantity of arms and ammunition, and we want all your warriors 
to join us." He then placed a medal around his neck and gave him a 
paper* and a silk flag, saying : " You are to command all the braves that will 
leave here the day after to-morrow to join our braves near Detroit." 

The next morning Black Hawk and his warriors were suppHed with arras, 
ammunition, and clothing, and in the evening a great feast was given to all the 
savages. 

The following morning Col. Dickson with his band of soldiers, accom- 
panied by Black Hawk, with five hundred savages, started from Green Bay 
down the lake shore for Detroit. When they reached Chicago, the garrison at 
Fort Dearborn had shortly before been evacuated. 

It appears that Gen. Hull had informed Capt. Heald, commander of Fort 
Dearborn, of the loss of Fort Mackinaw, the key of the northern lakes, and 
directed him to distribute his stores among the neighboring Indians, and retire 
to Fort Wayne. Heald, after distributing some of the stores, found that the 
savages were not to be trusted and, consequently, after having received orders, 
August 9, 1812, to evacuate the fort, made preparations accordingly and, on 
August 15, he abandoned the fort, after having first destroyed the powder and 
spirits in store. 

The garrison proceeded on their way along the lake shore towards Fort 
Wayne for a little over a mile, when they were attacked by about five hundred 
Pottawattamies under Chief Blackbird. Capt. Heald was supported by Capt. 
Wells, and his guard of about thirty Miamis, who had been sent from Fort 
Wayne for that purpose. 

Capt. Heald's forces were fifty-four regulars and twelve militia. The con- 
flict was as desperate as it was short. In fact it was a massacre. Twenty-six 
of Heald's regulars, all of the militia, Capt. Wells, and other ofticers, together 
with two women, and twelve children, Avere killed. Capt. Heald, and his wife, 
and several others, were severely injured.! Capt. Heald and his survivors sur- 
rendered to Blackbird, upon condition that their lives should be spared. | The 
prisoners were taken to Fort Dearborn, which was burned the next day. The 
prisoners were distributed among the different tribes, excepting Capt. Heald 
and his wife, who were taken to the house of an Indian trader, where, after re- 
maining some time, they were sent to Detroit. 

Black Hawk, in speaking of the massacre, says: "They had a considera- 

*A certificate of good character and devotion to the British. This certificate was found 
at the Battle of Bad Ax, twenty years later. 

tSmith's History of Wisconsin, Vol. III., 122. 

tit is doubtful whether the surrender was conditional, as Ileal;! was not in condition to 
dictate the terms of the surrender. 




Keokuk. 



BLACK HAWK— WARS IN WHICH HE PARTICIPATED. 191 

ble (luantity of powder in the fort at Chicago which they had promised to the 
Indians, but, the night before they marched, they destroyed it. I think it was 
thrown into a well. If they had fulfilled their word to the Indians, I think they 
would have gone safe. 

"On our arrival, I found that the Indians had several prisoners. I advised 
them to treat them well." 

"We continued our march," says Black Hawk, "and joined the British 
army below Detroit, and soon after had a fight. The Americans foui:^Jit well 
and dro'oe us with considerable loss . I was surprised a/ this, as I had been told 
bv the British that the Americans could not fights 

The famous General Henry Procter,* with his British soldiers and savage 
allies under Black Hawk and other chiefs, operated many months in the vicin- 
ity of Detroit. 

When Gen. Procter, with his soldiers and savage allies in 18 14, were de- 
feated by Harrison at Fort Meigs, and, shortly afterwards, repulsed and sus- 
tained heavy losses at Fort Stevenson by Lieut. Crogan, Black Hawk became 
discouraged and, while the British and Indian allies were hovering around Fort 
Sandusky, he, with part of his band, returned to Rock Island. 

Upon Black Hawk's arrival at his village, he was heartily received and 
feasted. He then learned for the first time that, after he and his braves had 
joined the British at Green Bay, his nation was reduced to so small a war party 
that they would be unable to defend themselves against the Americans in case 
of an attack and so held a council, which agreed that Quash-qua-me (The 
Lance) and other chiefs with the old men, women and children, and such 
others as saw fit to accompany them, should go down to St. Louis and place 
themselves under the protection of the United States, which they accordingly 
did, and were received as a friendly band of the Sac and Fox nations. 

Keokuk (Watchful Fox) was then introduced to Black Hawk as the war- 
chief of the braves then in the village. Black Hawk inquired how Keokuk 
was made chief and was informed that, after Quash-qua-me and his party had 
gone to St. Louis, their si)ies had discovered a large armed party going towards 
Peoria, and were afraid an attack might be made on their village, whereupon 
a council was held, which concluded, as a matter of safety, to abandon their 
village and cross to the west side of the Mississippi. Keokuk, never having 
killed an enemy, was not allowed to enter the council lodge, but while stand- 
ing near the entrance, he learned of the proposed abandonment of their native 
village, and while waiting near the lodge-door, the aged Wacome came out and 
was persuaded to intercede for Keokuk and secure the consent of the council 

*IIcnry Procter was born in Wales in 1765, and entered the British army in 1781, was 
promoted and made colonel in 1810. In 1812 he came to Canada at the head of the 41st regi- 
ment. For his victory over Winchester he was made brigadier-general. After his defeats in 
1813, he was court-martialed, but afterwards restored to his old rank. 



ig: 



HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 



for him to address them. The request was granted. Keokuk then addressed 
the chiefs and warriors and in his speech remonstrated so eloquently against 
the desertion of their native village, their homes, and the graves of their fathers, 
that they immediately appointed him their war-chief. 

Keokuk at once sent out his spies, marshaled his warriors, and took the 
trail leading toward Peoria. After vainly searching for the enemy, they 
returned without having discovered them. The village remained undisturbed, 
and Keokuk's appointment was satisfactory to all * 

"Life of Black Hawk, 24, Smith's History of Wisconsin, Vol. HI., 123-125. 




Black Hawk in 1812. 

(From litliograph. ) 



Chapter XXV. 

Revenges the Death of His Adopted Son. — Defeats Zachary Taylor at Rock Island. — 
Fort Armstrong Built. — Encroachment of the Whites. — Black Hawk's Complaints to 
the United States .Vuthorities. — The (jeneral Government and Illinois Violate the Ordi- 
nance of 1787. — Indians Removed to West Side of the Mississippi. — Promised Annuity Not 
Paid. 

Black Hawk then visited his family, which he found well, but says that he 
could not rest in comfort with them, until he had avenged the death of an 
adopted child that had been killed and scalped by the whites in his absence. 
He then returned to his village, and with about thirty warriors went on a 
marauding tri[) down the Mississijjpi in the vicinity of Fort Madison and the 
Quiver river. 

At this time two incidents occurred that show that Black Hawk was not 
the cold-blooded savage that he has so often been depicted, but, on the con- 
trary, was an exception to the rule. 

While Black Hawk and a companion were going up the trail from the 
Mississippi towards Fort Madison, they met two white men, one of whom was 
allowed to escape, as he had been at the village to teach the Indians how to 
plow. The other was killed and scalped by Black Hawk's companion. Short- 
ly after this, they saw two little boys trying to conceal themselves in some 
bushes, but they passed without noticing them, as he says: "I thought of my 
own children." 

After joining the remainder of the party near the Quiver, they had a con- 
flict with a party of mounted men, the leader of which was instantly killed by 
Black Hawk. The Indians were then driven into a sink-hole where they hid 
in some bushes. After the whites fired into the bushes and killed one Indian, 
and received the fire of the Indians in return, they retreated with the loss of 
one man, which they left behind. The Indians then came out of the bushes 
and scalped the man they had killed, and placed their dead upon him. " We 
could not," says Slack Hawk, "have left him in a better situation, than on 
the enemy." 

Early in the season of 1814, and during the continuance of the war with 
Great Britain, the government authorities at St. Louis fitted out a large boat 
and mustered for its crew all of the available men at St. Louis and from tlie 
country south on the Mississippi, and dispatched it up the Mississippi to build 
a fort and protect the scattered settlers. Upon their arrival at Prairie du 
Chien they built Fort Shelby, and fortified the works in the best manner pos- 
sible. Shortly after the construction of the fort. Col. McKay, of the British 
army, arrived from Green Bay by way of the historic water way, the Fox and 

193 



194 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

Wisconsin rivers, with a force of British and Indians. After a determined 
resistance against great odds, the fort was finally captured.* 

The Indians were so infuriated that they would have massacred the whole 
garrison, had it not been for the able and forcible exertions on the part of Col. 
McKay, who sent a part of his soldiers to escort the garrison down the river 
in a boat ; even then the Indians followed the boat until it passed Rock Island 
rapids. 

Major Campbell had at this time ascended the river from St. Louis with 
a squadron of boats and a detachment of United States troops for the purpose 
of re-inforcing the garrison at Fort Shelby. When they reached Rock Island, 
they were well received by Black Hawk, and his people, who appeared to be 
friendly. During the night, however, an express came down Rock river with 
rum and powder, and brought the news that Fort Shelby, at Prairie du Chien, 
had been taken by the British. They easily succeeded in inciting Black Hawk 
to again join them. 

Black Hawk immediately started in pursuit of Col. Campbell's squadron, 
and succeeded in capturing one of the boats in the rapids above Rock Island. 
Col. Campbell and several of his men were wounded, and many killed. The 
expedition then returned down the river to St. Louis. 

Shortly after the happening of the above events, the British commander 
at Prairie du Chien, then called Fort McKay, descended the Mississippi 
river, bringing with him a detachment of soldiers and two field-pieces, and 
joined Black Hawk at Rock Island, which was the great Indian seat of w^ar. 
Maj. Zachary Taylor (afterward president of the United States), in command 
of three hundred men, left St. Louis in boats, for the upper Mississippi, on 
August 3, 1814. When they reached Rock Island f they found a British bat- 

* Col. McKay's forces consisted of about one hundred and twenty volunteers, prin- 
cipally voyegeurs in the employ of Canadian traders, and officered by their clerks, all dressed 
in red coats, together with three bands of Sioux Indians, under Waubashaw and other chiefs. 
Col. McKay and force came to Green Bay in boats ; at that point he was reinforced by about 
thirty whites, with Pierre Grignon as captain, together with seventy-five Menominees, under 
Ma-cha-nah and other chiefs, and about twenty-five Chippewas, making about four hundred 
Indians and one hundred and fifty whites. They also had a sergeant of artillery and one 
brass six-pounder. 

The expedition, by way of the Fox and Wisconsin rivers, arrived at the old Fox 
village, twenty-one miles from Fort Shelby, where they camped, and sent their spies to I'rairie 
du Chien, to ascertain the strength of the garrison, which tiiey found to be sixty. The next 
day McKay met his spies at " Petit Greis," about tliree miles from the fort. The garrison 
was protected (?) by a small wooden gun-boat commanded by Captain Yaiser, who had stored 
on board the fort's magazine and provisions. Upon the refusal of the commander of the fort 
to surrender, the colonel's six-pounder commenced to play upon Captain Yaiser's gun-boat, 
and, before sundown, they drove him from the river against the protestations of the garrison. 
The garrison resisted all attacks of the British and Indians for four days, and not until 
McKay was about to shoot red-hot cannon balls into the fort, was the flag lowered. When 
the American flag was taken down, it was found riddled with bullets, except the representa- 
tion of the eagle, which was unscathed. This fact was remarked by the gallant McKay. 
The Indians had been shooting at it for four days. 

t Black Hawk, in his life, says that Maj. Zachary Taylor arrived the night before the 
engagement and camped on a small willow island nearly ojiposite them. That the British, 
early the next morning, while Taylor's forces were starting up the river, commenced firing 
upon the boats. 




Zachary Taylor. 
From an original oil j)aintinij, in the Wisconsin Historical Society's Rooms. 



196 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

tery on the left shore and several hundred Indians under Black Hawk on the 
right. A severe battle took place in which several of Taylor's forces were 
killed and many wounded. Maj. Taylor, finding the British forces too great for 
his small number, retired down the river to St. Louis. 

Great Britain's savage allies were forever released from their alliance with 
that nation upon the consummation of the treaty of peace between the United 
States and Great Britain, which was entered into Dec. 24, 1814. 

Black Hawk and twenty-one of the Sac and Fox chiefs were persuaded by 
the United States authorities to meet in council on May 13, 1816, at St. Louis, 
where they ratified the treaty of St. Louis, dated November 3, 1804, by the 
terms of which treaty the Sac and Fox nation ceded to the United States 
the greater portion of Wisconsin, northern Illinois, and a strip of land 
on the northeast side of Missouri, and a large portion of the state of 
Iowa, which included Black Hawk's native village and the graves of his 
ancestors. 

Black Hawk, in speaking of this treaty, says: " Here, for the first time, I 
touched the goose-quill to the treaty, not knowing, however, by that act I 
consented to give away my village. Had Lhat been explained to me, I should 
have opposed it, and never would have signed this treaty, as my recent conduct 
will clearly show." 

Upon Black Hawk's arrival from St. Louis, he found that in his absence, 
the United States troops had arrived at Rock Island, for the purpose of build- 
ing Fort Armstrong. 

" We did not object to their building the fort," says Black Hawk, "but 
were very sorry, as this was the best island on the Mississippi, and had long 
been the resort of our young people during the summer. It was our garden 
(like the white people have near to their big villages) which supplied us with 
strawberries, blackberries, gooseberries, plums, apples, and nuts of difterent kinds ; 
and its water supplied us with fine fish, being situated in the rapids of the river. 
In my early life, I spent many happy days on this island. A good spirit had care 
of it, who lived in a cave in the rocks, immediately under the place where the 
fort now stands, and has often been seen by our people. He was white, with 
large wings like a swan, but ten times larger. We were particular not to make 
much noise in that part of the island which he inhabited for fear of disturbing 
him. But the noise of the fort has since driven him away, and no doubt a bad 
spirit has taken his place. Our village was situated on the north side of the 
Rock river, at the foot of its rapids, on the point of land between Rock river 
and the Mississippi. In its front a prairie extended to the banks of the Misssis- 
sippi ; and, in our rear, a continued bluff gently ascending from the prairie. On 
the side of this bluff we had our cornfields, extending about two miles up, 
running parallel with the Mississippi, where we joined those of the Foxes, 



BLACK HAWK— WARS IN WHICH HK PARTICIPATED. 197 

whose village was on the bank of the Mississippi opposite the lower end of 
Rock Island, and three miles distant from ours. 

"We had about eight hundred acres in cultivation, including what we had 
on the islands of Rock river. The kind around our village, uncultivated, was 
covered with blue-grass, which made excellent pasture for our horses. Several 
fine springs broke out of the bluff near by, from which we were supplied with 
good water. The rapids of Rock river furnish;id us with an abundance of ex- 
cellent fish, and the land, being good, never failed to produce good crops of 
corn, beans, pumpkins, and scpiashes. We always had plenty. Our children 
never cried with hunger, nor were our people ever in want. Here our village 
had stood for more than a hundred years, during which time we were the un- 
disturbed possessors of the valley of the Mississippi, from the Ouisconsin to the 
Portage des Sioux, near the mouth of the Missouri. 

"At this time, we had very little intercourse with the whites, except our 
traders. Our village was healthy and there was no place in the country pos- 
sessing such advantages, nor any hunting grounds better than those we had in 
our possession. If another prophet had come to our village in those days, and 
told us what has since taken place, none of our people would have believed him. 
What, to be driven from our village and hunting grounds, and not even per- 
mitted to visit the graves of our forefathers, our relations, and friends ? This 
hardship is not known to the whites. With us, it is the custom to visit the 
graves of our friends and keep them in repair for many years. The mother 
might go alone to weep over the grave of her child. The brave with pleasure 
visits the grave of his father, after he has been successful in war, and repaints 
the post that shows where he lies. There is no place like that where the bones 
of our forefathers lie to go to when in grief; here the Great Spirit will take pity 
on us." 

About this time, Black Hawk and several of his band took the old Indian 
trail across northern Illinois and southern Michigan, to the British Indian 
agency at Maiden, Canada. They were well received by the British agent, 
who gave Black Hawk a medal for his fidelity to the English cause during the 
war of 18 1 2, and invited him to return with his band each year and receive 
presents that had been promised them by Col. Dickson several years before. 
Upon their return home they were well laden with both presents and 
advice.* 

The fraudulent treaty of St. Louis, in 1804, contained this inducement 
clause : "As long as the lands which are now ceded to the United States shall 
remain their (the general government's) property, the Indians belonging to said 
tribes shall enjoy the privilege of living or hunting upon them." This meant 

"Black Hawk says, in his Life, that at the time the Hritisli agent gave him the medal, 
he said that there never would again be war between England and the United States, but, 
on account of Black Hawk's fidelity, he and his band should receive their annual presents. 



198 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

that the Indians were to remain upon these ceded lands until pre-empted by 
actual settlers. 

The knowledge of this saving clause was to Black Hawk the one bright 
ray of light that shone through the dark and threatening clouds that were 
about to burst and destroy him. 

Notwithstanding this clause in the treaty, the most venturesome of the 
early frontiersmen, within a short time after the building of Fort Armstrong, 
commenced sc^uatting upon the lands adjacent to Black Hawk's ancient village. 

The attractions to the fertile valley of the Mississippi were so great, that, 
as early as 1823, the old Indian village and its cornfields* were most en- 
tirely surrounded by these wily and avaricious squatters, and notwithstanding 
the fact that a strip of fine unoccupied land, forty miles wide, lay east of the 
village. 

Black Hawk's affairs were each day becoming more and more complicated. 
The agent at Fort Armstrong and the trader at Rock Island had already induced 
Keokuk and other easy and rum-loving chiefs to cross over to the west side of the 
Mississippi and l)uild a new village. The old Sac and Fox confederation was 
now for the first time divided. Those favoring peace and the abandonment of 
their native homes had crossed the Mississippi with Keokuk and other peace- 
chiefs; the balance, consisting of more than a thousand souls, remained in their 
native village with Black Hawk. 

Keokuk frequently came to the village to co-operate with the agent and trader 
at Rock Island, with the view of persuading Black Hawk and his followers to 
cross over to the west side of the Mississippi ; but Black Hawk's love for his 
native village, and the graves of his fathers, was so great that every induce- 
ment proved futile. He looked upon Keokuk as "no brave," a coward, and 
a friend of the whites. 

Each day the unprincipled and avaricious squatters encroached more and 
more upon the heritage of Black Hawk and his people. Whenever a white 
man wanted a cornfield, he would plow up the Indian's newly-planted corn- 
ground and replant it himself, thereby destroying the Indian's greatest source 
for sustaining his family. Whisky was openly given to the Indians in the 
village, and they were made drunk, and cheated out of their horses, guns and 
equipments, and not infrequently were they inhumanly treated by these 
" early settlers." 

At one time, while Black Hawk was hunting near Two Rivers, he was 
met by three white men, who accused him of killing their hogs, and, notwith- 
standing his protestations and declarations of innocence, they took away his 
gun, fired it off, took out the flint, and after giving it back, they beat him so 

*Black Hawk's cornfields consisted of about eiglit hundred acres of fine land, including 
the islands in the Rock river. 



BLACK HAWK— WARS IN WHICH HE PARTICIPATED. 199 

badly that he could not sleep for several nights. An Indian woman was also 
beaten for pulling up a few cornsuckers from a white man's cornfield to eat 
when hungry ; and one of the young Indians was so badly beaten with clubs, 
Ijy two white men, for opening a fence which crossed the road to the Indian 
village, that his shoulder-blade was broken, and he died. 

Amid these disastrous and distressing times, not one of the whites was 
hurt or molested by the Indians. Black Hawk complained to the United 
States authorities at St. Louis and informed them of the true state of affairs. 
At the same time, the squatters were complaining to the authorities at St. Louis 
that the Indians were intruding upon f/ie/V rights ; "they made themselves out," 
says Black Hawk, "to be the injured party, and we the intruders, and called 
loudly to the great war-chief to protect their property." 

In the fall of 1830, and shortly prior to their starting for their hunting 
grounds in Missouri, the agent at Fort Armstrong told Black Hawk that the 
land upon which the Indian village stood should be sold, and if they returned 
the following spring, that they should be forcibly removed. During the 
winter, a runner informed Black Hawk that the land, upon which their village 
stood, had been sold, and that the solicitious trader at Rock Island (who had 
repeatedly urged Black Hawk to remove to the west side of the Mississii)pi) 
had purchased it.* 

During the long and dreary winter of 1830-31, the council lodge in Black 
Hawk's camp was several times convened, and therein it was determined that 
they should return to their native village, in the spring, and, if they were 
forcibly removed, " the trader, the agent, the interpreter, the great chief at St. 
Louis, the great war-chief at Fort Armstrong and Keokuk were to be killed." 
This wholesale slaughter was to be performed by Neapope, the prince of 
Indian liars. Unfortunately, Black Hawk had two friends and counselors, 
each of whom he implicitly trusted; one was White Cloud, the crafty half 
Sac and half Winnebago i)roi)het, and chief of a Wmnebago village, thirty- 
nine miles up Rock river, at a jjlace now called Prophetstown, Illinois, and the 
other was the zealous, lying and deceptive Neapope, who frequently acted as 
Black Hawk's ambassador. 

Upon the return of Black Hawk and his band, late in the spring of 1831, 
after a fruitless! winter's hunt, they found their native village in a deplorable con- 
dition. Many of the bark lodges had been burned, the village divided up and 
sold to the government trader at Rock Island, and to his friends the squatters; 
the old cornfields, that the Indians had cultivated for more than a century, 
had likewise been sold, and the dearest of all spots to the Indian heart, the 
burying-ground of their dead, had also been sold and plowed over.| 

* Col. Davenport. 

t Black Hawk claimed thai the principal cause of llieir failure to procure game ami fur 
during the winter of 1830-31, was because the whites had traded whisky with the Indians 
for their guns and traps. 

t Smith's Hist. Wis., Vol. III., 138. 



200 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

Black Hawk, in contrasting the good old days before Fort Armstrong was 
built, with these times, says: "But how difife'^ent now is our situation from 
what it was in those days — then we were as happy as the buffalo on the plains, 
but now we are as miserable as the hungry, howling wolves in the prairie. 
Bitter reflections crowd upon the mind and must find utterance." 

Black Hawk now went to Fort Maiden to advise with the British agent, 
on the subject of his grievances, and also called upon the " Great Chief" at 
Detroit, for the same purpose, and was told by both that " if we had not sold 
our lands, and would remain peaceably on them, we should not be disturbed." 
This, he says, " assured me that I was right and determined me to hold out." 

Owing to the fact that they were obliged to break new grounds with their 
primitive hoes, the prospect for a corn crop was so poor, that, for the first 
time. Black Hawk found his people face to face with starvation. 

The interpreter and agent at Fort Armstrong ordered Black Hawk and 
his people, under pain of compulsion, to cross over to the west side of the Missis- 
sippi. They tried, however, to make arrangements witii the government 
authorities at St. Louis, whereby Black Hawk should receive six thousand 
dollars to remove quietly and peaceably westward of the Mississippi, but the 
authorities at St. Louis sent back word that " the government could give them 
nothing, and if they did not remove immediately that they would be driven oiT. " 

Notwithstanding these facts. Black Hawk was determined to remain in the 
village, but fearing that a conflict might arise he directed his band, that in case 
the authorities came, not to raise a hand against them. Frequently and vainly 
did Black Hawk apply to the various government authorities for redress, and 
vainly did he ask for permission to go to Washington, for the purpose of having 
a talk with the American Father, President Jackson. 

The settlers complained to Governor Reynolds, of Illinois, and represented 
that Black Hawk was a regular Memphisto, and his band, imps ; that they had 
thrown down their fences, cut up their grain, slaughtered their cattle, and did 
numerous other unholy acts.* 

Black Hawk's band, considering their usage by the settlers, together with 
their almost starving condition, undoubtedly did commit numerous offenses, 
but that these offenses were greatly multiplied and distorted, none can deny. 

Governor Reynolds, upon receipt of the numerous exaggerated reports, 
immediately declared the state invaded, and appealed to Gen. Clark, superin- 
tendent of Indian affairs, to afford means for the protection of the people, and 
to remove the Indians across the Mississippi. 

The governor's call was speedily complied with, and, on the loth day of 
June, 183 1, about sixteen hundred men had assembled at Beardstown, and 

*The squatters, with one exception, left the village and vicinity for a short period after 
Black Hawk threatened them with death. One white man who had a large family was, through 
sympathy, permitted to stay. 



BLACK HAWK— WARS IX WHICH HE PARTICIPATED. 201 

there organized into an " odd battalion and a spy battalion." The brigade was 
then placed under command of Maj.-Gen. Jos. Duncan, of the Illinois state 
militia. 

Ceneral Gaines, having arrived at Rock Island by steamboat with a detach- 
ment of soldiers, convened a council at the agency, on the 7th day of June, 
1831, which was attended by Black Hawk and several of his chiefs, together 
with Keokuk and WatelUi, the peace-chiefs. Black Hawk was told that their 
Great Father, the ]:)resi(lent, was sorry to be put to the trouble and expense of 
sending a body of soldiers to remove them from the lands which they had long 
since ced^d to the United States, and advised them to immediately remove to the 
west side of the Mississippi. Black Hawk replied : " We have never sold our 
country; we have never received any annuities from our American Father, and 
we are determined to hold on to the village." 

Gen. Gaines angrily arose, and replied : " Who is Black Hawk ? Who is 
Black Hawk?" Black Hawk, with flashing eyes, answered: " I am a Sac; 
my forefother was a Sac; and all the nations call me a Sac." 

" I came here," said Gen. Gaines, "neither to beg nor to hire you to 
leave your village; my business is to remove you peaceably, if I can; forcibly, 
if I must. I will give you two days to remove in, and, if you do not cross the 
Mississippi in that time, I will adopt measures to force you away." Thus the 
council broke up. 

About June 24, the whole of the forces were concentrated about eight 
miles below th'e mouth of the Rock river, at a i)lace now called Rockport. From 
this point, plans were laid for the capture of the Indian village, and the de- 
struction of the Sac nation. Gen. Gaines convened a council on the 24th of 
June and gave Black Hawk and his band one day in which to cross to the west 
side of the Mississippi. Accordingly, on the morning of June 26th, the two 
brigades marched up the country, and General Gaines and a detachment 
ascended the river in a steamboat. Upon their arrival at the mouthof the Rock 
river, they found the Indian village deserted. Black Hawk and his whole band 
having crossed to the west side of the Mississippi in the night, and encamped 
below Rock Island. 

This brave band of sixteen hundred well-armed and well-fed militiamen, 
in their wrath at not finding a few hundred nearly-starved and half-armed In- 
dians, amidst torrents of rain, set fire to the bark wigwams, and in a short 
time this ancient village, which had been the home of six or seven thousand 
Indians, was reduced to a pile of smouldering ashes.* 

It is suggested that perhaps the miUtiamen, who set fire to the old Indian 
village, were the brave three hundred, who the next year, upon hearing the 
first Indian war-whoops at Syracuse Creek, ran to Dixon, a distance of thirty 
miles away. 

* Ford's Illinois, 114. 



202 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

Upon June 27, the little army marched up Rock river, where they 
camped at a place now called Rock Island. At this place, Gen. Gaines con- 
vened another council, and by threatening to cross the Mississippi, in pursuit 
of the starving refugees, succeeded in getting Black Hawk to "touch the 
quill" to a peace treaty, by the terms of which. Black Hawk was to receive 
corn in place of that growing in the fields, and that he and his nation were 
ever to remain on the west side of the Mississippi, and not to recross without 
the permission of the governor of Illinois, or the President of the United 
States. 

History should not conceal facts, nor misrepresent them; either for the pur- 
pose of covering up, or concealing the errors or mistakes of government offi- 
cials, or for any other purpose. More than sixty years have elapsed since the 
occurrence of these unhappy events — sufficient time to allay all prejudice 
against these unfortunate and misguided red men. 

When Gen. Gaines ordered Black Hawk to recross to the west side of 
the Mississippi, several million acres of unoccupied lands lay east of the Mis- 
sissippi which, under the terms of the treaty of 1804, Black Hawk had the 
right to live and hunt on. 

The greatest travesty on justice ever perpetrated in the United States was 
the treaty of St. Louis, made Nov. 3, 1804. In this treaty, the United States 
was represented by its able commissioner, William Henry Harrison, and the 
Sac and Fox nation by five drunken Indians, four of whom had been sent to 
St. Louis to try and liberate an Indian prisoner. The consideration for more 
than fifty-one million acres of land was $2,234.50 in goods, deHvered to these 
Indians, and the government's promise to pay annually $1,000 in goods to be 
valued at cost, $600 of which was to be paid to the Sacs and $400 to the Foxes. 

In the life of Black Hawk, which was published in 1833, both in the 
United States and England, Black Hawk stoutly maintained that not one cent 
of the promised annuity was ever paid. It is reasonable to suppose that had 
the government paid the promised annuity, that, long ere this, the vouchers 
would have been produced by the government to erase the stam upon its 
escutcheon, which was made by overzealous and not overscrupulous officials. 

There is no doubt but that Black Hawk, in 1831, working in unison with 
other malcontent chiefs, undertook to unite the different Indian tribes between 
Lake Superior and Mexico. He admits that ''runners were sent to the 
Arkansas, Red river and Texas, not on the subject of our lands, but on a 
secret mission which I am not at present permitted to explain." 

If Black Hawk had succeeded in forming such a general alliance for 
offensive and defensive purposes, he would be known in history as the greatest 
Indian chief America ever produced. 



MAP OFTffE 



.^<y;>7 (/ c/ic :/^ao 




xj/'a/e c^^e 



DRA w/^ ay 

NAPOl/AN BOARDJVIA/l 
U. 6 PURVEYOR. 



Map Showing Countkv Traversed bv Black Hawk in His Fli 



GHT. 



Chapter XXVI . 

Black Hawk Returns to East Side of Mississippi. — Ordered Back. — Goes up Rock River 
to Make Corn. — United Forces of Government and Illinois Militia. — Black Hawk Tries to 
Surrender. — Maj. Stillman's Militia Shoots Truce- Bearer. — Battle of Stillman's Run. — Gen- 
erosity of Black Hawk. 

About this time Neapope arrived from Fort Maiden, where he had been 
sent when Gen. Gaines was first making arrangements to remove the British 
band* across the Mississippi. 

Upon Neapope's arrival, he reported to Black Hawk that the agent of the 
British Father had sent him word that the Americans should not remove them 
to the west side of the Mississippi, and that, in the event of war, the British 
would assist them. He further said that he had stopped at the Prophet's village, 
and that the prophet had received expresses from the British Father, who prom- 
ised to send them guns, ammunition and clothing, in the spring, and that the 
prophet had received wampum and tobacco from different tribes on the lake. 

At this time Keokuk, having learned that Black Hawk was about to re- 
cruit his band with the view of recrossing to the east side of the Mississippi, 
made application to the government authorities at St. Louis for permission for 
Black Hawk and some of his chiefs to go to Washington, with the view of set- 
tling their difficulties. Keokuk also requested Col. Davenport, the trader at 
Rock Island, who was going to Washington, to call upon the president and get 
his permission for a delegation of chiefs to visit him. But the United States 
officials on the Mississippi, the traders and squatters, were not anxious for 
Black Hawk to have a hearing before the president. t At any rate, the much- 
sought permission was not granted to Black Hawk and his chiefs to visit the 
president. 

During the summer of 1831 and winter of '31-32, Black Hawk made his 
headquarters at the site of Fort Madison, | where he recruited his band, with 
the view of going up the Rock river in the spring, for the purpose of raising a 
crop of corn, and for the purpose of inducing other Indian tribes to join him in 
order to eventually re-establish his rights on the east side of the Mississippi. 

On April 7, 1832, Black Hawk and his band recrossed to the east side of 
the Mississippi at Yellow Banks, and started up the Mississippi. 

The warriors were on horseback, armed and equipped, the women and 
children in canoes with provisions and camp equipages. White Cloud, the 
prophet, joined them below Rock Island, having first called at Fort Armstrong 

*Black Hawk's people were called the British band by the early traders and squatters on 
account of their fidelity to the British in the war of 1812. 
tLife of Black Hawk, 91. 
tFort Madison was burned by Zachary Taylor in 1813, after his repulse at Rock Island. 



BLACK HAWK— WARS IN WHICH HE PARTICIPATED. 205 

ami informed the government authorities that Black Hawk and his band were, 
upon his invitation, going up the Rock river to make corn. 

The military authorities had for some time been watching the movements 
of Black Hawk and his band, at their rendezvous at the site of Fort Madison, 
and hardly had they crossed the Mississippi, before Governor Reynolds, with 
more haste than wisdom, declared the state invaded, and made a call for volun- 
teers, and asked aid from the general government. In a few days sixteen 
hundred men assembled at Beardstown and were organized into four regiments 
and a spy battalion, and the whole brigade placed under the command of Brig.- 
Gen. Whitesides. In the meantime, Gen. Atkinson, with a body of United 
States troops, had ascended the Mississippi in steamboats, from St. Louis, and 
upon their arrival in the vicinity of Rock Island, they were jomed by Gen. 
AVhitesides and his forces.* 

Black Hawk and his band had moved leisurely and quietly up the Rock 
river for some distance, when they were overtaken by a messenger from General 
Atkinson, ordering them in a peremptory manner to leave the country and 
recross the Mississippi. To this message Black Hawk promptly answered that 
he would not; that he did not recognize the right to make such a demand, as 
he Avas acting peaceably, and intended to go to the prophet's village and make 
corn. The messenger returned, and the band moved up the river and camped 
below the prophet's village. At this point another messenger arrived from 
General Atkinson, threatening to pursue and drive them back, if they did not 
immediately return. "This message," says Black Hawk, " roused the spirit 
of my band, and all were determined to remain with me and contest the 
ground with the war-chief, should he come and attempt to drive us. We 
therefore directed the express to say to the war-chief that, if he wished to fight 
us, he might come on. We were determined never to be driven, and equally 
so, not to make the first attack, our object being to act only on the defensive." 

Shortly after this messenger returned, Mr. Gratiot, the sub-agent for the 
Winnebagoes, together with several chiefs of that nation, arrived. Mr. 
(}ratiot's mission was to persuade Black Hawk and his band to recross the 
Mississippi, but the double-faced Winnebago chiefs that were with him said 
that the farther Black Hawk went up the Rock river the more friends he would 
find, and that their reinforcements would soon be sufficiendy strong to repulse 
any enemy. 

^^■hile the chiefs in the vicinity of Prophetstown did not deny that they 
had sent wampum, during the winter, with the request that they join the Win- 
nebagoes and enjoy all the rights of the country, yet they did not want them 
to go farther up the Rock river. The next night after the band went into 
camp above the prophet's village, Black Hawk called a council of his people, 

*Smith's Hist. Wis., T., 260. 



2o6 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

and informed his chiefs that they had been deceived; that all the golden 
promises held out by Neapope were false. The council then decided to go up 
as far as Kishwocakee, and see what they could do with the Pottawattamies. 
Upon their arrival near Kishwocakee an envoy was sent to the Pottawattamie 
village, and the next day a delegation of those stoical warriors arrived. Black 
Hawk soon ascertained that they had but little corn in the village and none to 
spare, even for seed. They denied any knowledge of British assistance. 

Black Hawk now for the first time found that the assistance promised by 
both the prophet and Neapope was a fabrication, and then and there con- 
cluded to inform his people that if the White Beaver (Gen. Atkinson) came 
after them, they would return across the Mississippi, as they were in need of 
both provisions and ammunition. 

The next day, May 14, Black Hawk had a dog feast prepared for the Pot- 
tawattamie chiefs, who were present at his invitation. When the feast was ready. 
Black Hawk spread the medicine bags, and the chiefs began to eat. When the 
ceremonies were about ended, a runner came in with the news that three or 
four hundred white men on horseback had been seen about eight miles off. 

Black Hawk immediately started three young men, with a white flag, to 
meet them and conduct them to his camp in order to hold a council with them, 
and again descended the Rock river. He also directed them that in case the 
party had encamped, to return, and he would go to their camp. The adroit 
old warrior then sent five young men to see what might take place. 

Gen. Atkinson, in the meantime,with about three hundred regulars and about 
the same number of Illinois militia, followed I^lack Hawk up the Rock river. 
Gen. Atkinson, however, had been preceded by Gen. Whitesides, who had 
halted at Prophetstown, long enough to burn the Winnebago village; then 
centered his forces at Dixon. 

On May 12, Major Stillman got permission from Gen. Whitesides to take 
about three hundred mounted men up Rock river on a scoutmg expedition, 
with the view of having a good time, and locating Black Hawk. Two days 
later, on May 14, Stillman's scouting party went into camp near Sycamore 
creek, which was about thirty miles from Dixon, and only a few miles from 
where Black Hawk was feasting the Pottawattamie chiefs. 

In a short time Black Hawk's three truce-bearers were seen coming 
towards camp. They were met by several of the militia and escorted into 
camp, and after explaining the object of their mission, and while standing 
unarmed among nearly three hundred militia, they were shot at by some 
militiamen who had just arrived, and one of the three instantly killed. At this 
moment, the five Indians who had been sent out by Black Hawk to watch the 
first three, were discovered, and, while the excited and half-drunken militia 
were preparing to mount and give chase, the two remaining truce-bearers 



BLACK HAWK— WARS IN WHICH HE PARTICIPATED. 207 

escaped. About twenty of the militia immediately pursued and shot down two 
of the five fleeing Indians. 

The three Indians who had escaped the wrath of the militia soon 
returned to Black Hawk, and informed him of the supposed death of the truce- 
bearers, the death of two of their number, and of their own timely escape. 
By this time the whole brigade was in the saddle, and in a chaotic manner 
were bearing down towards tiie camp of Black Hawk, whose warriors, with 
the exception of about forty, were some ten miles away. 

Black Hawk told his warriors what had occurred, and asked them to 
avenge their death; then, at the head of his little band of forty braves, started 
to meet the militia. They had proceeded but a short distance when they saw 
about twenty of the brigade coming towards them, followed by the balance of 
the militia. Black Hawk placed his warriors behind clusters of bushes, "in 
order to get the first fire." The militia, suspecting an ambush, halted some 
little distance from the concealed Indians. When Black Hawk finally gave the 
signal, the Indians, with the most terrific war-whoops, discharged their guns, 
then with their tomahawks and knives in hand, charged the militia, who retreated 
in the utmost confusion, passing through their own camp and on to Dixon. 

Black Hawk, after following the militia for a short distance, returned to 
his camp with a part of his braves, then, lighting his pipe, he sat down and 
smoked and thanked the Great Spirit for their success. 

The two Indians belonging to the truce party, after escaping, hid them- 
selves in the timber, but were closely followed by some of the militia, one of 
whom came so close that a tomahawk was thrown from the ambush, the mili- 
tiaman killed and scalped with his own knife. Then the Indians, after taking 
his gun and ammunition, mounted his horse and started in pursuit of the enemy 
and soon overtook, tomahawked and scalped one whose horse was mired. 

About twenty- five of Black Hawk's warriors followed Stillman's men 
several miles beyond their encampment, and upon their return they had 
twelve scalps and two prisoners. The balance of Stillman's men, with one 
exception,* did not stop running until they reached Dixon; and upon their 
arrival, their vivid imagination placed the Indian forces at from fifteen 
hundred to two thousand. 

In this disgraceful aftair, which was the cause of the ''Black Hawk War," 
Stillman's losses were twelve killed, two taken prisoners and several wounded, 
while the only losses sustained by Black Hawk were the three Indians who 

*AtTiong the retreating militia was a Methodist preacher, who soon found that his horse 
was so slow that he would be overtaken; consequently, he struck into a ravine which led 
from the main route, and soon found good shelter for himself and horse. Here he staid for 
more than two hours. He took the precaution to count the Indians when they passed, and 
also upon their return. Thus being satisfied that all had returned, he quietly and leisurely 
trotted along towards Dixon, where he arrived the next morning about sunrise. When 
questioned about the number of Indians that followed the militia, he answered twenty-five, 
^nd came near being lynched for his truthfulness. 



2o8 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

were killed by the militia, before the first war-whoop was given. The next 
morning, Black Hawk sent the village crier to notify his people that the dead 
must be buried. After the dead had been buried, and runners sent to pick up 
the balance of the warriors, an examination was made of Stillman's camp, 
which contained considerable plunder, such as arms, ammunition and pro- 
visions. A small quantity of whisky was also found, together with several little 
empty barrels which "contained this bad medicine." Black Hawk could then 
account for the manner in which his unarmed truce-bearers had been shot 
down, but the emptiness of the little barrels did not suggest to his stoical mind 
any reason for the hasty and cowardly retreat of the militia. 

The two prisoners brought into Black Hawk's camp Avere Gideon Munson 
and Elijah Kilbourn. Munson, after having been taken to Black Hawk's camp, 
tried to escape and was shot down and scalped by one of the guards. 

Kilbourn was tied to a tree and furnished sport for the young Indians, 
who blessed him with an occasional slap or a kick as they passed him. His 
only hope was that they would not identify him. To be identified meant 
death, as he had, many years before, been adopted by Black Hawk into the 
tribe, under peculiar circumstances, and had, after three years of wild, Indian 
life, escaped. As hour after hour passed, and none of the chiefs or warriors 
recognized him, he began to hope that his life would be spared, but his heart 
sank when Black Hawk passed close to him, and, in alow tone, said : " Does 
the mole think that Black Hawk forgets?" 

Kilbourn was one of the brave and daring young scouts that were 
detailed to operate near or in the vicinity of Detroit and other points on Lake 
Erie, during the war of 1812. 

After the British were defeated at Fort Stevenson in 1813, Kilbourn and 
some of his venturesome companions, after learning that Black Hawk and a 
few of his warriors had started for their village on Rock river, conceived the 
idea of following them. Consequently, the next morning at daybreak, about 
a dozen brave and well-mounted young scouts were on the Indian trail leading 
southwest. Stealthily they followed the trail, until they came to the Illinois 
river. Here they found that the Indians had divided, a portion going 
towards their village, and the balance following down the river. The leader of 
the scouts, after first secreting their horses, sent Kilbourn and three com- 
panions across the river to follow the trail leading towards the Indian village on 
Rock river, while the rest of the scouts followed the trail leading down the 
river. The morning following the first day's traihng found Kilbourn and his 
party in the vicinity of Indian settlements, and inconsequence, the trail became 
so merged with other Indian trails that their progress not only became slow, 
but extremely perilous. As a matter of safety, the scouts now resolved to 
adopt the Indian method of separating, then afterwards meeting at a given 



n 
> 

> 




2IO HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

place. The suggestion was no sooner made than put into execution. Kil- 
bourn, after carefully examining the priming of his rifle, started off in the 
direction most liable to bring him to their crossing place on the IlHnois river. 
Nothing of importance occurred until nearly sundown, when, suddenly emerg- 
ing from a thicket, he saw an Indian on his knees drinking from a clear spring. 
Instantly Kilbourn's rifle was at his shoulder, and after taking deliberate aim, 
he pulled the trigger, and to his dismay, the hammer came down and shattered 
the flint into fragments without igniting the powder. Instantly the Indian 
sprang to his feet and leveled his gun, and in good English demanded Kilbourn 
to surrender, then told him in what direction to go, which he accordingly did, 
and in a few moments he came suddenly upon an Indian camp, containing six 
or eight Indians, who appeared to be as much surprised as he was. It did 
not take him long to recognize his captor as the celebrated Black Hawk. 

After talking with his companions a few moments. Black Hawk informed 
him that his warriors would consider him as a brother, as he was going to 
adopt him into the tribe. For three years Kilbourn, fished hunted and 
trapped in the vast wilderness of Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa and Missouri, be- 
fore he found an opportunity of taking French leave of his red brothers. 
Seventeen years later, as a government scout, he found himself at the front 
with Stillman's men, fighting his old benefactor, when he was again taken 
prisoner. This was the situation of affairs, and the reason that he patiently 
awaited death after being recognized by the old warrior. 

That same evening, about two hours before sunset, Black Hawk came to 
where Kilbourn was tied, cut the thongs that bound him to the tree, and then, 
without unfastening his hands, bade him follow him. In silence and alone 
they traveled through the gloomy forest for nearly an hour, until finally, 
reaching a bend in Rock river. Black Hawk, after turning towards the setting 
sun, said : 

"I am going to send you back to your chief, though I ought to kill 
you for running away a long time ago, after I had adopted you as a son, 
but Black Hawk can forgive as well as fight. When you return to your 
chief, I want you to tell him my words. Tell him that Black Hawk's 
eyes have looked upon many suns, but they shall not see many more; 
and that his back is no longer straight as in his youth, but is begin- 
ning to bend with age. The Great Spirit has whispered among the 
tree-tops in the morning and evening, and says that Black Hawk's 
days are few, and that he is wanted in the spirit-land. He is half-dead, his 
arm shakes and is no longer strong, and his feet are slow on the war-path. 
Tell him all this, and tell him, too," continued Black Hawk, with marked 
emotion, " that Black Hawk would have been a friend to the whites, but they 
would not let him, and that the hatchet was dug up by themselves, and not by 



BLACK HAWK— WARS IN WHICH HE PARTICIPATED. 211 

the Indians. Tell your chief that Black Hawk meant no harm to the pale 
faces when he came across the Mississippi, but came peaceably to raise corn 
for his starving women and children, and that even then he would have gone 
back; but when he sent his white flag, the braves who carried it were treated 
like squaws, and one of them inhumanly shot." " Tell him, too," said the old 
warrior, as his eyes flashed fire, " that Black Hawk will have revenge, and that 
he will never stop until the Great Spirit shall say to him, come away ! " * 

Then cutting the thongs that bound the prisoner's arms, he gave him 
specific directions as to the route to his camp, and after bidding him fai-ewell, 
the old warrior struck off into the trackless forest, to make that last and des- 
perate struggle for his honor and the honor of his nation. 

*Life of Black Hawk. Kilbourn's narrative as published in the Soldier's Cabinet. 




Chapter XXVII. 

Extermination. — Governor Reynolds' Inflammatory rroclamation. — Black Hawk Es- 
tablishes His Headquarters at Four Lakes. — Indian Bands Depredate Northern Illinois and 
Southern Wisconsin. — Pecatonica. — Famine at Four Lakes. — The Band Moves Up to the 
Wisconsin River. — Black Hawk With Fifty Warriors Holds the American Army in Check 
at Wisconsin Heights. 

Upon Black Hawk's return to camp he found tliat his absent warriors 
had returned. He then sent out spies to watch the army which was camped 
at Dixon. 

The disposition of the miUtia at Sycamore creek had satisfied the mind of 
Black Hawk that a war of extermination was being waged against him and his 
nation. He had tried to surrender, and his truce-bearers were shot down. It 
was impossible for him to return and recross the Mississippi without exposing 
the lives of the women and children to the fury of the enemy. The one 
course now left him was to find a place of safety for the women and children, 
then make a gallant fight for their honor. 

Black Hawk now commenced moving his band of about 500 warriors, 
together with their women and children, up to the headwaters of the Kishwa- 
cokee. Upon their arrival at that point. Black Hawk sent out numerous war 
parties to depredate the whole country, from Chicago to the Mississippi, and 
from Rock river north into Wisconsin.* Then with two old Winnebagoes ai; 
guides, they commenced moving towards the Four Lakes (where Madison now 
stands), and after seven days' hard marching, they arrived at the Four Lakes 
and there established their headquarters. 

Prior to the time Governor Reynolds issued his last proclamation. Colonel 
W. S. Hamilton had been sent up above Prairie du Chien to form an alliance 
with the Sioux and Menominee Indians, and, within a short time, he suc- 
ceeded in sending down the Mississippi a band of those incarnate fiends, who 
never spared either warrior, woman or child. 

In those days Wisconsin was a part of the territory of Michigan, and the 
principal settlements were at Green Bay, Milwaukee, the lead regions in Iowa 
county, and at Prairie du Chien, on the Mississippi. 

Henry Dodge, who was one of the early pioneers of the Iowa county 
lead regions, at this time occupied the position of colonel of the militia of that 
portion of the territory of Michigan, and upon the commencement of hostili- 
ties commanded the mounted volunteers of Iowa county and the Galena vol- 

*One of the war parties, consisting of seventeen Indians, was completely annihilated 
at Pecatonica on June 16, 1832, by General Dodge and twenty-two companions. General 
Dodge had two men killed and one wounded. Not one of the Indians escaped. 

212 



BLACK HAWK— WARS IN WHICH HE PARTICIPATED. 213 

unteers of Illinois. He was under orders of Brig. -Gen. Atkinson, of the 
United States army. 

Col. Dodge, with twenty-seven volunteers, left Iowa county on May 8, 
and proceeded up the Rock river for the purj)ose of ascertaining the condition 
of the country, and, if possible, to ascertain from the government authorities 
the future policy to be pursued. 

Upon their arrival at Buffalo Grove, they struck a trail of Indians, which 
they pursued as far as Rock river, at a point nearly opposite the Kiswaukee, 
and but a short distance from where Major Stillman was that day so ignomini- 
ously defeated by Black Hawk and his forty warriors. 

Prior to this time the whole western frontier was in an agitated condition, 
owing to Governor Reynolds' proclamation and tiie exaggerated reports as to 
Black Hawk's intentions, and the agitation was greatly augmented when Gov- 
ernor Reynolds, upon May 15, issued another inflammatory proclamation, 
wherein he said, "The siate is not only invaded by the hostile Indians, 
BUT MANY OF OUR CITIZENS have been slain in battle." Then, after alluding to 
Stillman's defeat, he stated that he beheved that the Wisconsin Winnebagoes 
and Pottawattamie Indians had joined the Sacs, and were all considered as 
waging war against the United States. To subdue and drive this hostile ele- 
ment out of the state the governor made a requisition of a force of two thousand 
volunteers in addition to those already in the field, and ordered them to meet 
at Hennepin, on the Illinois river, on June 10, in companies of fifty men each, 
there to be organized into brigades. 

The government, and likewise Governor Reynolds, of IlHnois, must have 
forgotten the celebrated ordinance, passed by congress in 1787, which provided 
that, "The utmost good faith shall always be observed towards the In- 
dians, THEIR lands and PROPERTY SHALL NEVER BE TAKEN FROM THEM WITH- 
OUT their consent, and in THEIR PROPERTY RIGHTS AND LIBERTY, THEY NEVER 
SHALL BE INVADED OR DISTURBED OR, UNLESS IN JUST AND LAWFUL WARS, 
AUTHORIZED BY CONGRESS, BUT WARS FOUNDED IN JUSTICE AND HUMANITY 
SHALL FROM TIME TO TIME BE MADE, FOR PREVENTING WRONGS BEING DONE TO 
THEM AND FOR PRESERVING PEACE AND FRIENDSHIP AMONG THEM." 

Upon the junction of the forces at Koskonong, General Atkinson dis- 
patched Generals Henry and Alexander, together with Col. Dodge, to Fort 
Winnebago for supplies. After obtaining the necessary provisions for the army, 
Gen. Posey and Gen. Alexander returned to Koskonong with the supplies, 
while Gen. Henry and Col. Dodge, with their separate commands, struck across 
the country to the rapids of Rock river, where they received information that 
the Indian trail had been discovered. Gens. Henry and Dodge, with their 
united strength of about fourteen hundred men, well provisioned, armed, and 
equipped, immediately marched up above the Four Lakes, where they struck 
Black Hawk's trail leading towards the Wisconsin river. 



FOX-MSC/JNS/N BA/UNS 

DRAW// BY /VAPOLIAN BOAffOA/lON 
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Map Showing Battlefield of Prairie du Sac. (Wisconsin Heights). 



BLACK HAWK— WARS IN WHICH HE PARTICIPATED. 215 

During the last few weeks of Black Hawk's stay at Four Lakes, near the 
present city of Madison, it became almost impossible to get enough to eat to 
sustain life. Their camp was situated in a low, swampy place, on account of 
its being almost inaccessible, and in that vicinity game was very scarce, and the 
country was sparsely settled, which forced them to dig roots and bark trees to 
sustain life ; even then some of the old people died of hunger. Black Hawk 
now learned, through his runners, that the army had commenced moving in the 
direction of his camp, and fearing that he might be surrounded, concluded to 
remove his women and children to the west side of the Mississippi ; conse- 
quently, the next day they broke camp and commenced moving toward the 
Wisconsin, with the intention of descending that river to the Mississippi. 
Neapope remained in the rear to watch the enemy, which they anticipated 
from the direction of Koskonong, while Black Hawk and the balance of the 
nation were proceedmg towards the Wisconsin. 

After Stillman's defeat. Governor Reynolds sent an express to Col. Dodge, 
informing him of the fact, and advising him of the danger that threatened the 
muling districts. Col. Dodge immediately returned home and organized the 
inhabitants into companies, and ordered their famihes placed in forts, block- 
houses and stockade posts. This precaution was well taken, for hardly had the 
settlers in the mining districts been organized for a defensive purpose, before 
the whole country was overrun by scattered bands of Indians, sent out by 
Black Hawk, shortly after the fight at Stillman's Run. 

Gen. Atkinson, having ascertained through a Pottawattamie Indian, that 
Black Hawk was in the vicinity of Four Lakes, marched with a portion of his 
army to Koskonong, and, upon his arrival, found that Black Hawk had 
decamped, and that the direction taken by that adroit old chief was unknown. 
At this point, Gen. Atkinson was joined by Gen. Alexander's brigade on June 
30, and, a few days later, by Posey's brigade, which consisted of a part of 
Col. Dodge's volunteers from Wiota. 

Gen. Posey and Gen. Alexander each commanded 1,000 men. Gen. 
Henry commanded 1,200, and Gen. Dodge's battalion numbered about 150, 
besides Major Zachary Taylor's regular forces on the Mississippi, which were 
four hundred and fifty.* At this time the Illinois militia had been reduced 
nearly one-half by sickness and other causes, t 

Black Hawk and his band arrived at the Wisconsin river at a point nearly 
opposite Prairie du Sac (the old camping-ground of Black Hawk's an- 
cestors) late in the afternoon on July 21, 1832, and were hastening the de- 
parture of the women, children and old men to an island in the Wisconsin 

"Smith's History of Wisconsin, Vol. III., 182. 

tThe Illinois militia concluded that hunting Indians as a pastime was dangerous busi- 
ness, and for this reason, many returned to their homes. 



2i6 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

river, when Black Hawk's scouts brought him word that the advance squadrons 
of the enemy were close at hand. Black Hawk, with the ability of a Napo- 
leon or a Moreau, took fifty of his warriors and bravely charged and drove 
back the mounted scouts of Col. Dodge's command, then took up his posi- 
tion on an elevated piece of ground. Black Hawk was mounted upon a 
superb white horse, upon which he sat, and with a voice like a clarion, rang 
out his orders to his brave but diminutive band. 

Black Hawk's position could not be held long against such great odds. 
After a desperate and determined struggle for an hour or more, he was driven 
by the combined command of Col. Dodge and Gen. Henry into the bottom 
lands of the Wisconsin river, but not until after his brave warriors had charged 
first the right and then the left flank of the enemy. 

Never in the annals of Indian warfare was such determined and success- 
ful resistance made by so few against such great odds. The battle com- 
menced about five o'clock in the afternoon and lasted until dusk. Black 
Hawk was defeated, but he had accomplished his object, by holding the army 
in check until the women, children and old men had crossed the river to an 
island in the Wisconsin. Black Hawk in this battle lost six warriors, and the 
loss of the enemy was one killed and eight wounded.* 

There appeared to have been a wonderful fatality in the fact that the 
Indians arrived at the point opposite the old camp-grounds of Black Hawk's 
ancestors, after striking across an unknown country and without any definite 
point in view. Had the great Sac chiefs, the ancestors of Black Hawk, who 
once lived at this noted spot, been permitted by the Great Spirit to look upon 
the great tragedy there enacted, no blush would have mantled their cheeks, no 
frown would have passed over their somber features — the honor of the i/reat 
medicine hags of the Sac nation was preserved. 

After the battle. Black Hawk disbanded his warriors, with instructions to 
meet at a given point on the Wisconsua. Then crossed the Wisconsm to an 
island where the balance of his nation were camped. 

Some writers, not caring to give Black Hawk credit for any great military 
achievements, claimed that Neapopef commanded at the battle of Wisconsin 
Heights ; but such is not the fact, however, as Neapope at the time of the bat- 
tle was with his twenty scouts many miles in the rear of Gen. Henry and Col. 

*The principal reason why the losses sustained in this battle were so small, was be- 
cause Black Hawk, on account of the scanty number of his warriors, was obliged to keep 
them between the enemy and the balance of the Indians, who were crossing the river; 
besides, during the whole of the engagement, rain was falling and the grass was both high 
and deplorably wet, which caused the priming in the old flint-lock rifles to become damp and 
unserviceable. 

tit will be 'remembered that Neapope was a self-proclaimed prophet, and the chief of the 
Winnebago village on Rock river. Neapope prophesied the idtimate success of Black Hawk 
and repeatedly urged him never to recross to the west side of the Mississippi; yet he was 
almost the first to desert him in the time of need. 



HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

Dodge's command. Neapope, after learning of the battle of Wisconsin Heights, 
disbanded his warriors, and with another Indian, went to a Winnebago village, 
and there remained until the close of the war; while the rest of the disbanded 
Indians, being Sac warriors and not shambling Winnebagoes, again joined Black 
Hawk and his misfortunes. 

Upon Black Hawk's arrival at the island, he found his people, not only 
worn out by hard marching, but in a starving condition. Owing to this state 
of affairs, many warriors left him to return across the Mississippi by way of 
the Wisconsin river. 

Unfortunately, upon their arrival at the mouth of the Wisconsin, they 
were met by a party of soldiers, who had been stationed there by order of the 
commander at Fort Crawford, and some were shot down, others drowned, 
while the balance escaped into the woods, only to die of starvation. 

Black Hawk, through an emissary, on the night of the battle of Wisconsin 
Heights, again tried to surrender, but that strange fatality — premeditated ex- 
termination — again closed the doors of reason, and the voice of the emissary 
was unheard.* 

Black Hawk and the balance of his band, having no means to descend the 
Wisconsin, and their horses being in a starving condition, after a few days, 
started with their Winnebago guides, across a wild, rugged country, interposed 
by turbulent and rapid streams, towards the Bad Ax river, with the intention 
of crossing the Mississippi river and returning to their late camping-grounds, 
near the site of Fort Madison. 

•White Crow and his Winnebagoes, and Pierre Parquet, an interpreter, who had fol- 
lowed Black Hawk's trail with General Henry and Colonel Dodge's comi^iand to Wisconsin 
Heights, and participated in the battle, left the American camp for Fort Winnebago, during 
the night of the battle, which may be the reason that ISlack Hawk's emissary, who addressed 
the American camp in Winnebago, was allowed to depart without a hearing. 





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Chapter XXVIII. 

Black Hawk's Band Retreats to Mouth of Bad Ax River. — Trail Strewn with Dead 
Bodies and Newly-Made Graves. — Concentration of United States Forces and Illinois 
Militia at Bad Ax. — Black Hawk Tries to Surrender to the Commander of "Warrior," but 
is Answered with Grape and Canister. — Slaughter of the Starving Indians. — He Surrenders 
as Prisoner of War. — His Celebrated Speech to General Street. — United States Recognizes 
His Rights. — The Old Warrior in Washington. — Sent Home by Way of the East. — His Sec- 
ond Visit to Washington and Eastern Cities. — His Death. — Conclusion. 

From the crossing on the north side of the Wisconsin to the mouth of the 
Bad Ax, the Indian trail was strewn with the bones of the almost fleshless horses 
which hud been killed to appease the starving refugees ; while the trail was lit- 
erally covered with dead bodies and newly-made graves of the Indians who 
had died of hunger, and perhaps from wounds received at the battle of Wiscon- 
sin Heights. 

The next morning after the battle of Wisconsin Heights, an express was 
sent to Gen. Atkinson at Koskonong, and to the commander at Fort Craw- 
ford, at Prairie du Chien, in order to intercept the Indians, if they attempted 
to escape by way of the Wisconsin. The army then, instead of crossing the 
Wisconsin and exterminating the Indians, or at once compelling them to sur- 
render, marched the whole army to the Blue Mounds, where Col. Dodge's 
command was temporarily dismissed. 

Gen. Atkinson, after being apprised of the battle of Wisconsin Heights, 
broke up his camp on Bark river near Koskonong, and hastened by way of the 
Blue Mounds, to Helena, on the Wisconsin. Here again the volunteers under 
Col. Dodge were assembled, and the whole army crossed the river, and found 
Black Hawk's trail on the north bank under the bluffs, leading towards the 
mouth of the Bad Ax. This trail was pursued until the Mississippi was 
reached, near the junction of the Bad Ax, on the morning of August 2. 

Col. Lomis, the commandant at Fort Crawford, after receiving Col. 
Dodge's express, sent the steamboat " Enterprise" up the Missis.sippi, for the 
purpose of intercepting any Indians that might try to escape by that route. 
At Black river they found forty Winnebagoes, with eight canoes collected, for 
the purpose undoubtedly of helping the retreating Sacs across the Mississippi. 
These Winnebagoes and canoes were seized, and brought down to Fort Craw- 
ford on July 30. The " Enterprise" being a slow boat, Col. Lomis hired the 
steamboat "Warrior" to make a trip, up the river. On August i, the "Warrior" 
ascended the river to the mouth of the Bad Ax, where they found Black Hawk 
and his people. 

Three days behind the band of starving and dying refugees, like sleuth- 
hounds, came the well-fed, well-mounted, and well-equipped white army. 

219 



MAP OF THE 

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Map Showing Battle of Bad Axe and Adjacent Country. 



BLACK HAWK— WARS IN WHICH HE PARTICIPATED. 221 

Black Hawk and his people had only arrived at the junction of the Bad 
Ax with the Mississippi, when they saw the steamboat "Warrior" coming. 
Black Hawk, l)eing acquainted with Throckmartin, the captain of the "Warrior," 
immediately determined to deliver himself up to him. He then directed his 
warriors not to shoot at the boat, then sent for his white flag. While the 
messenger was gone, he took a piece of white cotton, put it on a pole, and 
called to the captain of the boat, and told him to send his little boat ashore, 
and let him come aboard. 

Some one from the boat asked whether they were Sacs or Wmnebagoes. 
Some Winnebagoes being on board, Black Hawk told them in the Winnebago 
tongue that they were Sacs and wanted to give themselves up. 

One of Black Hawk's braves then jumped into the river bearing a white 
flag, and began swimming towards the boat. He had gotten but a short dis- 
tance, before a Winnebago on deck of the "Warrior" shouted for them to run 
and hide, that the whites were going to shoot. 

Black Hawk's white flag and its appeal, in the name of the starving 
women and children, was answered by the discharge of a six-pounder, loaded 
with grape and canister, which brought death and destruction in its path. 
Then the Indians, after hiding behind logs and trees, returned the fire of the 
" Warrior." 

This affair, which will ever disgrace the name of Lieutenant Kingsbury, and 
remain a blot upon the escutcheon of the government, cost Black Hawk twenty- 
three warriors, while on board the "Warrior" only one was wounded. 

The "Warrior" was under command of Lieut. Kingsbury, who occupied 
the forward deck with a detachment of regular troops. Lieut. Kingsbury 
should have been court-martialed and shot, or convicted of murder and hanged, 
as he and Capt. Throckmartin both admitted that they saw the flag of truce. 

After the boat left. Black Hawk told his people to cross the Mississippi if 
they wished, as he intended to go into the Chippewa country. At this time, 
the Indians were not aware that they were so closely i)ursued by the enemy. 
Black Hawk and three lodges of Indians then started for the Chippewa country, 
while some of the Indians commenced crossing to the west side of the Mississippi. 

Had the writers who have .so frequently depicted the scenes of August 2, 
1832, at the mouth of the Bad Ax river, the adjacent islands, and the opposite 
shores of the Mississippi, named it the s/ai/g/i/cr of the Bad Ax, instead of the 
"battle of the Bad Ax," it would have been no misnomer. 

In the Mississippi river, near the mouth of the Bad Ax, are two islands, 
one large and one small. The distance from the mainland to these islands is 
about 150 yards. 

On the evening of August i, a few stragghng, starving Indians were sighted 
and killed. On the morning of August 2, at two o'clock, Col. Dodge's com- 




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BLACK HAWK— WARS IN WHICH HE PARTICIPATED. 223 

mand, supported by the regular troops under Col. Zachary Taylor, took up 
their line of march, and at sunrise the spy company reported that they were up 
with the Indians. The Indians again tried to surrender to Col. Dodge's spy 
company, but with utter disregard of age or sex, they commenced shooting the 
helpless women and children, as well as the warriors. A few of the Indians, 
finding that they were to be exterminated, got behind trees and sold their lives 
as dearly as possible, while the rest attempted to escape by swimming across 
the Mississippi and to the islands. 

In the meanwhile, the united commands of Taylor and Dodge had been 
advanced about a mile to the blufts of the Mississippi, thus driving the Indians 
onto a point of land at the junction of the Bad Ax with the Mississippi. The 
Indians were now completely surrounded and became easy victims to the ene- 
my's insatiate desire to exterminate them. 

The "Warrior" had taken up her position so as to rake both islands with 
grape and canister, while the sharpshooters playfully shot many of those that 
attempted to cross the Mississippi, including the women with their helpless chil- 
dren upon their backs. The "Warrior" finally transferred Col. Taylor and 
about one hundred and fifty men to the larger of these islands, who soon 
killed all the Indians upon it. 

Gen. Atkinson, with the main army, arrived near the close of the massa- 
cre, but in time to shoot down a few of the defenseless women and children, 
who were endeavoring to escape. 

The closing scenes of this wonderful battle, which has cast such a halo of 
glory upon the government and the brave party participants, were enacted 
across the Mississippi. About one hundred and fifty Indians, principally 
women and children, who had escaped the shower of leaden hail, while bat- 
tling with the turbulent Mississippi, were overtaken by the Sioux hirelings of 
the government, and tomahawked. 

The manner in which some of the army officials undertook to reflect credit 
upon themselves is manifested in order No. 65,* as well as in Abraham 
Lincoln's addresst in a congressional speech, delivered during a campaign of 

* General Orders after the Battle of the Bad Ax. Headquarters First Army Corps of 
the Northwestern Army. Banks of the Mississippi river, near Bad Ax river, Aug. 3, 1832. 
Order No. 65. The victory achieved by the volunteers and regular troops over the enemy 
yesterday on this ground affords the commanding general an opportunity of expressing his 
approbation of their brave conduct: the whole of the troops participated in the honor of the 
combat; some of the corps were, however, more fortunate than others in being thrown from 
their positions in order of battle more immediately in conflict with the enemy. These were 
Henry's brigade, Dodge's battalion, the regular troops, Leach's regiment of Posey's brigade, 
and the spy battalion of Alexander's brigade. In order that individual merit and the con- 
duct of the corps may be properly represented to the department of war, and the general 
commanding the Northwestern army, the commanding general of this division directs that 
commanding officers of brigade and independent corps make to him written reports of the 
conduct and operations of their respective commands in the action. 

By order of Brig.-Gen. Atkinson. Alb. S. Johnson, A. D. C. and A. Adj. -Gen. 

t "By the way, Mr. Speaker, did you know I am a military hero? Yes, sir; 
in the days of the Black Hawk War, I fought, bled and came away. Speaking of Gen. 



224 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

1848. Three men, who in after life became world- renowned, took an active 
part in what was then called the Black Hawk War, to-wit. : Col. Zachary 
Taylor, who commanded the United States forces, and became president of the 
United States in 1849 ; Abraham Lincoln, who was captain of an Illinois 
regiment of militia, became president in 1861, and Lieut. Jefferson Davis, who 
was stationed at Prairie du Chien, became president of the southern confed- 
eracy in 1 86 1. 

Upon the morning of the battle of the Bad Ax, Black Hawk, who had 
started with a small party with the intention of going into the Chippewa coun- 
try, was overtaken by a runner, who informed them that the white army were 
within a few miles of his people, who had not yet crossed the Mississippi, 
Black Hawk then concluded to return and die with his people, unless the Great 
Spirit would give them another victory. He only succeeded, however, in get- 
ting to a thicket some distance from the scene of the slaughter, before it was 
over. After Black Hawk was informed of the result of the engagement by one 
of his escaping braves,* he retired with his little party to the Winnebago village 
at Prairie La Crosse. 

At Black Hawk's request, he and White Cloud, the prophet, started with 
two Winnebago Indians, Dccorrie and Chaeter, escorted by Lieut. Jefferson 
Davis, who delivered them up, as prisoners of war, to Gen. Street, at Prairie 
du Chien, on August 27th, 1832. The striking difference between a shambling, 
two-faced Winnebago and a Sac warrior is well illustrated by comparing the 
speeches made to Gen. Street upon that occasion by Decorrie and Black 
Hawk. Decorrie spoke as follows: "We have done as you told us. We 
always do as you tell us, because we know it is for our good. You told us to 
bring them to you alive; we have done so. If you had told us to bring their 
heads alone, we should have done so. We want you to keep them safe. If they 
are to be hurt, we do not want to see it. Wait u?iiil we are gone before you do 
it. We know you are our friends, because you take our part. That is the 
reason we do as you tell us to do. You say you love your red children ; we think 
we love you as much, if not more than you love us. We have confidence in 

Cass's career, reminds me ol my own. I was not at Stillman's defeat, but I was about as 
near it as Cass was to Hull's surrender, and, like him, I saw the place very soon afterward. 
It is quite certain I did not break my sword, for I had none to break, but I bent a musket 
pretty badly on one occasion. If Cass broke his sword, the idea is he broke it in desperation; 
I bent the musket by accident. If Gen. Cass went in advance of me in picking whortle- 
berries, I guess I surpassed him in charges upon the wild onions. If he saw any live, 
fighting Indians, it was more than I did, but I had a good many bloody struggles with the 
mosquitoes; and, although I never fainted from loss of blood, I can truly say I was often very 
hungry. Mr. Speaker, if I should ever conclude to doff whatever our Democratic friends 
may suppose there is of Black-Cockade Federalism about me, and thereupon they should 
take me up as their candidate for the presidency, I protest they shall not make fun of me as 
they have of Gen. Cass, by attempting to write me into a military hero." 

*This brave, at the com.mencement of the massacre, piled up some saddles before him, 
which shielded him from the enemy's fire, and, after killing three white men, crawled to the 
bank of the river and hid himself till the enemy retired. He then went to Black Hawk and 
reported the sorrowful news. 




Lieutenant Jefferson Davis, in 1829. 
Afterwards Fresidenl of the Southern Confederacy. 



226 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

you, and you may rely upon us. We have been promised a great deal if we 
would take these men, that it would do much good to our people. We now 
hope to see what will be done for us. We now put these men into your hands. 
We have done all that you told us to do." 

Black Hawk then made the following address, which will ever remain in 
history: 

"My warriors fell around me; it began to look dismal. I saw my evil day 
at hand. The sun rose clear on us in the morning, and at night it sunk in a 
dark cloud, and looked like a ball of fire. This was the last sun that shone on 
Black Hawk. He is now a prisoner to the white people, but he can stand the 
torture. He is not afraid of death. He is no coward. Black Hawk is an In- 
dian; he has done nothing of which an Indian need be ashamed. He has 
fought the battles of his country against the white men, who came year after 
year to cheat them and take away their lands. You know the cause of our 
making war — it is known to all white men — they ought to be ashamed of it. 
The white men despise the Indians, and drive them from their homes, but the 
Indians are not deceitful. The white men speak bad of the Indian and look at 
him spitefully, but the Indian does not tell lies. Indians do not steal. Black 
Hawk is satisfied. He will go to the world of spirits contented. He has done 
his duty. His father will meet and reward him. The white men do not scalp 
the head, but they do worse — they poison the heart — it is not pure with them. 
His countrymen will not be scalped, but they will in a few years become like 
the white men, so that you cannot hurt them, and there must be, as in the 
white settlements, as many officers as men, to take care of them and keep them 
in order — farewell to Black Hawk." 

. J Gen. Street, in the absence of Gen. Atkinson, deUvered the noted prison- 
ers to the commanding officer at Fort Crawford.* After remaining here a 
short time. Black Hawk was sent down the river to Jefferson Barracks, t under 
the charge of Lieut. Jefferson Davis. | Upon passing Rock Island, Gen. 
Scott§ came out in a small boat to see the captives, but was not allowed to go 
on board the steamer, on account of the cholera which was then raging among 
the troops at Fort Armstrong. Black Hawk says: "On our way down, I 
surveyed the country that had caused us so much trouble, anxiety and blood, 

*Hist. Wis., Vol. III., 156. 

tSept. 9, 1832. 

tBlack Hawk, in his "Life," in speaking of his escort, says: "We started for Jefferson 
Barracks, under the charge of a young war-chief (Lieut. Jefferson Davis), who treated us 
■with much kindness. He is a good and brave young chief, with whose conduct I was much 
pleased." • j o 

^During the latter part of June, 1832, Gen. Scott, with nine companies of United States 
artillery, hastened from the seat)oard by way of the Great Lakes to Chicago. This journey 
of 1,800 miles was made in eighteen days. Scott's forces only arrived in time to combat the 
great cholera foe then raging. Gen. Scott's losses at Detroit, Fort Gratiot, on Lake Michi- 
gan, at Fort Dearborn, and at Rock Island, exceeded 400 men, victims of the terrible 
scourge. 



BLACK HAWK— WARS IN WHICH HE PARTICIPATED. 227 

and that now has caused me to be a prisoner of war. I reflected upon the 
ingratitude of the whites, when I saw their fine houses, rich harvests, and 
everything desirable around them, and recalled that all this land had been ours, 
for which I and my people had never received a dollar, and that the whites 
were not satisfied until they took our villages and graveyards from us, and 
removed us across the Mississippi." 

Black Hawk was kindly received by Gen. Atkinson upon his arrival at 
Jefferson Barracks, but was greatly humiliated on being forced to wear a ball 
and chain. Here Black Hawk staid until the spring of 1833, during which 
time he was visited by the agent, trader, and interpreter, from Rock Island. 

Keokuk, and several Sac chiefs and warriors, also Black Hawk's wife and 
daughter, visited him during his captivity. 

Gen. Atkinson, in pursuance of an order from the government, sent Black 
Hawk and the prophet to Washington, where they arrived on April 2, 1833. 
President Jackson, upon the presentation of Black Hawk, was greeted with 
these words, " I am a man, and you are another." At the close of his speech 
to the president, the old warrior said: " We did not expect to conquer the 
whites, they have too many houses, too many men. I took up the hatchet 
for my part to revenge injuries which my people could no longer endure. 
Had I borne them longer without striking, my people would have said : Black 
Hawk is a woman, he is too old to be a chief, he is no Sac; these reflections 
caused me to raise the war-whoop. I say no more of it, it is known to you. 
Keokuk once was here, you took him by the hand, and when he wished to 
return to his home you were willing. Black Hawk expects that, like Keokuk, 
we shall be permitted to return, too." 

President Jackson told him he was well acquainted with his trouble and 
disaster. That it was unnecessary to look upon the past. They should not 
suffer from the Sioux or Menominees. That when he was satisfied that all 
would be quiet and harmony, they should be permitted to return, then taking 
the old warrior by the hand he kindly dismissed him. 

The captives were, on April 26, conducted to Fortress Monroe, which is 
situated upon a small island on the west side of the Chesapeake bay, in Vir- 
ginia, where they staid until released, on June 4, 1833. By order of the presi- 
dent, Black Hawk was conducted home by way of the seaboard, through all 
the cities in the union. 

The return trip was made by way of Detroit. The old warrior seemed to 
be much impressed with the magnitude of the eastern cities, as well as with 
the white people. 

The old warrior and his family, and a small portion of his band, left Rock 
Island, October 10, 1833, for their old hunting grounds, on Skunk river, on 
the west side of the Mississippi, below Shokokon. At this point, he had a 



228 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

comfortable dwelling-house built, and settled down with the intention ofjmssing 
the balance of his days in peace and security. 

Early in the autumn of 1837, the President of the United States invited 
deputations from several tribes of Indians residing upon the Upper Mississippi. 
An invitation was also extended to Black Hawk, through the influence of Col. 
Geo. Davenport, of Rock Island, and the old chief gladly availed himself of 
the opportunity of again visiting Washington. 

Before returning from Washington, the visiting Sac and Fox delegation, 
consisting of Keokuk, his wife and son, four chiefs of the nation. Black Hawk 
and son, and several warriors, visited all the large cities of the east. 

Black Hawk attracted great attention in all the eastern cities, especially 
in Boston. Here they were received by the mayor of the city and afterwards 
by Govenor Everett. The doors of Fanueil Hall, " the old cradle of liberty," 
were thrown open and a levee was held. After dinner the delegation was 
escorted to the state house by a military band, and upon their arrival, they 
were conspicuously seated near the speaker's desk, the house being filled with 
ladies, members of the legislature and city dignitaries. 

Governor Everett eloquently addressed the audience, briefly outlining 
the history of the Sac and Fox tribes. 

After the governor closed his address, which was followed by several 
chiefs, and after them the old war-chief. Black Hawk, made a short but digni- 
fied speech. Presents were then distributed to them by the governor. Keo- 
kuk was given a beautiful sword and a brace of pistols, his son was given a fine 
little rifle, the other chiefs long swords, and Black Hawk a sword and a brace 
of pistols. 

The closmg of the ceremonies at the capitol was followed by an exhibi- 
tion of an Indian war-dance on the Common, in the front of the capitol, in the 
presence of thirty thousand spectators. 

Upon Black Hawk's return from Boston, he removed his family and little 
band farther west on the Des Moines river, near the storehouse of an Indian 
trader, where a house had been previously erected for his use. His family con- 
sisted of his wife, two sons, an only daughter and her husband. 

In September, 1838, the aged chief, with the head men of his little band, 
started to go to Rock Island to receive their annuities, but he was taken sick, 
and returned home. On October 3, 1838, after being confined to his bed 
about two weeks, he departed* from the scenes of his youth and disappoint- 

*Black Hawk was buried on the Des Moines river bottom, on the north side, about 
ninety rods from where he died. He was buried upon the spot wliere he sal in council tlie 
year before, with Iowa Indians. He was buried in a suit of military clothes, made to order, 
and given to him when in Washington by General Jackson, with hat, sword, gold epaulets, 
etc. At the head of the grave, a flag-staff, some twenty feet high, was placed, on which hung 
a silk flag. (J. B. Patterson in "Life of Black Hawk.") 




Three Illustrious Men who Took Part in the Black Hawk W. 



AR. 



230 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

ments in after life, to meet the Great Spirit, in the land where the rights of an 
Indian are as much respected as his white brothers. 

After Black Hawk and the Sac nation had been sacrificed upon the altar 
of fraud, avarice, and ambition, the general government, as an act of atone- 
ment, through its commissioners, met the chiefs and head men of the Sac and 
Fox confederation, in council at Fort Armstrong, on September 31, 1832, and 
entered into a treaty, Avhereby the confederation ceded to the United States, in 
consideration of twenty thousand dollars in specie, to be paid annually for a 
period of thirty years, a large portion of the country bordering upon the west- 
ern frontier. 

Had this recognition of the rights of Black Hawk and his nation been 
made a few months prior, hundreds of lives and untold thousands of dollars 
would have been saved, and a stain upon the nation's honor obviated. 

Black Hawk's treatment by the general government, in making the treaty 
of St. Louis, in 1804, without his knowledge or consent — permitting squatters 
to encroach upon the Indian village, when milHons of acres of unoccupied 
lands, included in the treaty, were accessible — the shooting of Black Hawk's 
truce-bearers at Sycamore creek — the slaughter of the Indians at the mouth of 
the Bad Ax, while trying to surrender with a truce-flag displayed — the slaugh- 
ter of the defenseless women and children, after they had crossed the Missis- 
sippi, by the Sioux hirelings of the United States — was only equaled by the 
last sad act of this most terrible of tragic dramas — the exhuming of Black 
Hawk's bones from their peaceful slumbers, on the banks of the Mississippi, by 
the Iowa vandals, who exhibited them in a dime museum.* 

*In July, 1839, Black Hawk's grave was desecrated and his body carried off by one Dr. 
Turner, who lived at Lexington, la. At the request of Governor Lucas, of the territory of 
Iowa, Black Hawk's bones were in the fall of 1839 or spring of 1840 returned and placed in the 
collection of the Burlington Geological and Historical Society, and, it is said, that they were 
burned in 1855, with the balance of the society's collections. 




THE BLACK HAWK TOWER. 

Black Hawk's favorite resort was on the highest bank of the Rock river, 
and was selected by his father as a look-out. From this point the view of the 
Mississippi river and valley for many miles was unobstructed. 



BLACK HAWK'S WATCH TOWER. 
By Jennie M. Fowler. 

Beautiful tower; famous in history, 
Rich in legend, in old-time mystery. 
Graced with tales of Indian lore. 
Crowned with beauty from summit to shore. 

Below, winds the river, silent and still, 
Nestling so calmly 'mid island and hill. 
Above, like warriors, proudly and grand. 
Tower the forest trees, monarchs of land. 

A land-mark for all to admire and wonder. 
With thy history ancient, for nations to ponder, 
Boldly thou liftest thy head to the breeze. 
Crowned with thy plumes, the nodding trees. 

Years now are gone — forevermore fled, 
Since the Indian crept, with cat-like tread, 
With moccasined foot, with eagle eye — 
The red men, our foes, in ambush lie. 

The owl still his nightly vigil keeps, 
"While the river, below him, peacefully sleeps, 
The whip-poor-will utters his plaintive cry. 
The trees still whisper, and gently sigh. 

The pale moon still creeps from her daily rest. 
Throwing her rays o'er the river's dark breast. 
The katydid and cricket, I trow. 
In days gone by, chirruped even as now. 

Indian; thy camp-fires no longer are smouldering, 
Thy bones 'neath the forest moss long have been mouldering 
The " Great Spirit " claims thee. He leadeth thy tribe. 
To new hunting-grounds not won with a bribe. 

On thv Watch Tower, the pale-face his home now makes, 
His dwelling, the site of the forest tree takes. 
Gone are thy wigwams, the wild deer long fled, 
Black Hawk, with his tribe, lie silent and dead. 

231 




NlN-NKK-WAL-KE, DaLGHIEK OF HiE-NOO-KAH, ChIEF OF THE WlNNEliAGOES. 
]\iinteJ from life, by Mark I\. Harrison, of P'ond du Lac, Wisconsin. 



Chapter XXIX. 

Indian Disturbances. — Winnebago Outrages. — Red Bird's Uprising. — Depredations l)y 
Black Hawk's Bands. — Battle of Pecatonica. 

The Jesuit mis.sionaries, as well as the early fur-traders, were, with few 
exceptions, heartily received and welcomed by the Indians; but shortly after 
the close of the war of 1812, when the daring settlers had pushed as far west 
as the lead-mine region, and had threatened to invade and occupy the whole 
country north, feelings of revenge pervaded the savage breast toward the new 
occupants of the country. 

John Shaw, a trader who operated between St. Louis and Prairie du Chien, 
from 1815 to 1820, while making one of these trips, was permitted by the 
Indians, who supposed him to be a Frenchman, to go up the Fever river with 
his boat, where he found at least twenty smelting-places for lead ore.* Mr. 
Shaw at once carried away seventy tons of lead, and left considerable at the 
furnaces. The lead had been smelted into plats weighing about seventy pounds 
each.t 

The lead mines were, however, not occupied by the whites until 1822, 
when Colonel James Johnson, brother of the famous Richard M. Johnson, and 
a small party, with the aid of several detachments of United States troops, took 
possession by order of the war department. 

The state of Illinois, having been admitted into the union on December 
3d, 1818, the upper country, now known as Wisconsin, was attached for pur- 
poses of government to the territory of Michigan. Fort Howard having been 
built in 1817, and Camp Smith, near Des Peres, having been occupied by a 
detachment of troops in 1820, the banks of the Fox river now began to assume 
a cheerful and cultivated appearance. New families were added to the old 
French setdements, farms commenced, towns laid out, villages located to an 
extent that gave promise to the future great prosperity of the country. 

* Mr. Shaw describes one of these furnaces in the following manner: "A hole or 
cavity was dug in the face of a piece of sloping ground, about two feet in depth, and as much 
in width at the top. This hole was made in the shape of a mill-hopper, and lined or faced 
with flat stones. At the bottom or point of the hopper, which was about eight or nine inches 
scjuare, other narrow stones were laid across, grate-wise. A channel or eye was dug from the 
sloping side of the ground inwards to the bottom of the hopper. This channel was about 
a foot in width and height, and was filled with dry wood and brush. The hopper being filled 
with the mineral, and the wood ignited, the molten lead fell through the stones at the bot- 
tom of the hopper, and this was discharged through the eye, over the earth, in bowl-shaped 
masses called 'plats,' each of which weighed about seventy pounds." 

t Smith's History of Wisconsin, Vol. I., 246. 

233 



234 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

In the western portion of the territory, especially in the vicinity of the 
lead mines, immigration was rapidly increasing, notwithstanding the jealousies 
of the Indians, and the apparent danger of a speedy outbreak among them. 

One of the residents of Prairie du Chien, named Methode, went up 
Painted Rock creek, about twelve miles above the village, in March, 1827, for 
the purpose of making sugar. His wife, whom, it is said, was a most beautiful 
woman, accompanied him with their five children. Methode and his family, 
failing to return after the sugar season was over, a party of their friends went to 
look for them. They first found the body of Methode's dog, that had been shot 
with a score of balls, but still held in its jaws a piece of scarlet cloth, which it 
had evidently torn from the leggin of an Indian. Further search revealed the 
camp, which had been consumed by fire, and the dead bodies of Methode, his 
wife and the five children. The body of Mrs. Methode, in particular^ was 
shockingly mangled. These horrible murders had been perpetrated by a party 
of Winnebagoes, one of the party being Wa-man-doos-ga-ra-ka, who was 
arrested, and is said to have confessed his guilt, and to have implicated others. 

Early in the year 1827, a party of twenty- four Chippewas were on their 
way to Fort SnelHng, and, while at the mouth of the St. Peter's river, were sur- 
prised afid attacked by a party of Winnebagoes, and eight of them were 
slaughtered. The commandant at Fort Snelling took four of the offending 
Winnebagoes prisoners, and, with great indiscretion, delivered them to the 
exasperated Chippewas, who immediately put them to death. In addition to 
this new source of enmity, there was also added the daily encroachments of 
the whites in the lead regions, who had, at this time, overrun the mining coun- 
try from Galena to the Wisconsin river. These facts are given by General 
Smith, in his History of Wisconsin, Vol. I., 247, as the causes leading up to 
the Winnebago disturbance. 

A difierent version, however, is given by Hon. Moses M. Strong, in his His- 
tory of Wisconsin Territory , which is as follows : "In the spring of 1 82 7 , a rumor 
was very extensively circulated among the Winnebagoes, and generally believed, 
that two prisoners of their tribe, who had been removed from Fort Crawford to 
Fort Snelling, had been turned over to the Chippewas, to run the gantlet 
through the latter tribe, armed with clubs and tomahawks, and the race for life 
had resulted in the killing of both of them. Something like this occurred with 
reference to some Sioux prisoners at Fort Snelling, but the story had no truth 
in regard to the Winnebago prisoners. 

" Hitherto, the Winnebago chief, Red Bird, had not only been well known 
at Prairie du Chien, but had the confidence and respect of all the inhabitants 
to such an extent that he was always sought after as a protector, and his 
presence was looked upon as a pledge of security against any outbreak that 
might be attempted. 



TERRITORIAL DAYS. 235 

'• When the unfounded rumors of the kiUing of the Winnebago prisoners at 
Fort Snelling were heard and beheved, the leading chiefs held a council and 
resolved upon retaliation." 

One of the most accurate and full accounts ever given of Red Bird's dis- 
turbances is the personal narrative of Judge James H. Lockwood, of Prairie du 
Chien, published in Smith's History of Wisconsin, Vol. III., 347-352. 

" During the winter of 1826-7, ^ report had been circulated among the 
Winnebagoes that the Americans and English were going to war the next sum- 
mer, and the Indians on the Mississii)pi and Rock rivers, instead of hunting, 
had spent most of their time in feasts and councils as to the course they should 
pursue. Their conduct was somewhat controlled by the vacillating policy of 
the general government as to the abandonment of old Fort Crawford. In those 
days the mail facilities of this place were such that, sometimes, letters or dis- 
patches of the government, by keel-boat conveyance, were ninety days on their 
way from St. Louis. 

" In the winter and spring of 1826, I think, orders were twice received by 
the commanding officer to abandon Fort Crawford, and before he could obey 
the order, another would be received by him, countermanding it. But some- 
time in October, 1826, a positive order was received to abandon the post, and 
go to Fort Snelling with the troops, and if transportation for the stores, am- 
munition, arms, etc., could not be procured, to leave them in the fort in charge 
of some person. They accordingly abandoned the fort, leaving arms, ammuni- 
tion, etc., in charge of John Marsh, then Indian sub-agent for the Win- 
nebagoes. 

" About a week or two before the abandonment of the fort, it was reported 
that the Winnebagoes intended to attack the fort. The alarm was thus created, 
and the commandant had been making considerable repairs on account of it. 
All this was known to the Indians, through the half-breeds, and the abandon- 
ment of the fort, under these circumstances, led the Indians to believe that the 
act was done through fear of them. Although it was known to the traders that 
there was a great deal of excitement among the Winnebagoes, they did not 
generally believe that there would be any outbreak against the whites. 

" After the troops had gone, there were no American families left in Prairie 
du Chien, except that of James H. Lockwood, which consisted of his wife and 
self. They resided in a house near the present Fort Crawford, on the 
site now occupied by the commanding officer. The house was thirty feet by 
twenty feet, with a cellar and a cellar kitchen under the house. On the first 
floor a hall ran through the house, on the south side, the longest way. On the 
north side of the hall was a parlor in front, and a bed-room back. A stair- 
way and a door led from the cellar kitchen into the hall. There was a door 
from the hall into both the parlor and bed-room, also a door from the parlor 



236 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

into the bed-room. A wing was added to the south side of the house, in which 
Mr. Lockwood kept his stores, and a door opened from the hall into the store. 

" On the 25th day of June, 1827, Mr. Lockwood, not believing that there 
would be any difficulty, left home in a boat, by way of the Wisconsin river 
and Green Bay, for New York, and leaving his wife at home. Having pro- 
ceeded some twenty miles up the Wisconsin river, towards night, he met with 
some Winnebagoes on an island. These were Indians that he knew, but from 
their conduct he became a litde alarmed, and began to fear that all was not 
right. Nevertheless, he went on a little farther and encamped, the Indians 
following under pretense of camping with him, which an old man did, but two 
young men begged some powder and candles, under pretense of hunting deer, 
and promised to bring him some venison in the morning, but he did not see 
them again. 

" On the 26th of June, Red Bird, with his two companions, went into the 
cellar kitchen of Mr. Lockwood's house, (where there was a servant-girl belong- 
ing to one of the tribes of the New York Indians at Green Bay), and loaded 
their guns. They then went upstairs into Mrs. Lockwood's bed-room, and 
when they came in, she at once thought that they had come to kill her, and 
she fled through the parlor, and across the hall into the store, to her brother, a 
young man about sixteen years of age. Here she found Duncan Graham, who 
had been some forty years in the country as trader, and was known to all the 
Indians as an Englishman. The Indians followed Mrs. Lockwood into the 
store, but Mr. Graham persuaded them to go away. They then w^ent to the 
lower end of the Prairie du Chien, where a man of mixed blood, (negro) by 
the name of Registe Gagnier, was residing with his family, and an old dis- 
charged American soldier, by the name of Lilcap, They soon raised a quarrel 
with Gagnier and shot him in his house. Lilcap was hoeing in his garden, and 
they shot him down, also. The wife made her escape with one child, through 
a window, with a gun in her hand, and came to the village, but in her hurry 
she had forgotten her youngest child, which the Indians scalped, cut a severe 
gash in its neck, and threw it under the bed, where it was afterwards found. 
This child ultimately recovered, and is now married, and the mother of 
children. 

" On the 26th, Mr. Lockwood proceeded on his way up the Wisconsin, 
and, about eight o'clock, met with some Indians from the Portage, who 
appeared friendly and pleased to meet him, which in a measure removed his 
apprehensions of there being anything wrong among the Winnebagoes. Leav- 
ing them, he proceeded on until about four o'clock, when, as he arrived at 
Prairie du Bay, a Menomonie express canoe overtook him, with a line from 
John Marsh, stating the murders of Gagnier and Lilcap, and requesting his 
immediate return. 



TERRITORIAL DAYS. 237 

" Mr. Lockwood immediately returned back with the Menomonies, but 
did not reach Prairie du Chien until the morning of the 27th, when he found 
the inhabitants assembled at Brunet's tavern in the old village of Prairie du 
Chien, and, as usual in such cases, without a head and without ammunition. 
They would not go to the old fort, because some of the people had circulated 
a report that the Indians had said that, if the inhabitants went into the fort, 
they were going to burn it. 

" Thus the day was passed in making some breastworks of timl)er above 
the tavern, and repairing some old guns, until about sundown, when a keel- 
boat arrived from above, bringing one dead Winnebago, and one Frenchman 
and the clerk of the boat, with four or five of the hands wounded. The marks 
of about five hundred ball-holes, shot into the boat, were also apparent ; all of 
which matters created an additional panic, and the inhabitants managed to ar- 
range among themselves so as to keep up a guard that night. 

" But the guard imagined that they saw a great many Indians lurking about 
during the night, and in the morning there appeared a general discontent among 
them. Almost every man had a project of defense of his own. One party 
proposed going to the house of Mr. Lockwood and fortifying around it; others 
for doing the same at other places. Mr. Lockwood, on hearing these different 
opinions, addressed the people in something like the following terms : 

" 'You may go to my house, and fortify around it, if that is thought to be 
best, but I do not Avant you to go there to i)rotect it. I have left it, and if the 
Indians burn it, so be it; but there is one thing we all must do — somebody 
must command, and the others must obey.' 

" Someone then nominated Mr. Lockwood, but he declined, saying, 'No, 
I would attempt to command you ; but here is Thomas McNair, the regularly 
appointed and commissioned captain. If you will obey him, I will be the first 
to set the example of obedience to him, and I will furnish you with powder and 
ball as long as you want to shoot. (Mr. Lockwood then being the only per- 
son having lead and powder which they could get.) But if you will not obey 
Thomas McNair, I am going to put my things into my boat, and go down 
stream, as I will not risk myself with a mob without a head.' 

" They immediately agreed that they would obey McNair, and be ordered 
all to the old fort, where he set to work repairing it as well as he could. On 
the fourth of July, Governor Cass arrived, mustered the militia into the service 
of the United States, and appointed James H. Lockwood quartermaster and 
commissary, with the privilege of using his own funds to supply the company; 
and then went down to Galena, and raised a volunteer company, under Cap- 
tain Abner Field, who, in a few days, came to our relief. 

"Previous to the arrival of Governor Cass, Mr. Lockwood had sent an 
express on the west side of the Mississippi to Fort Snelling, informing Colonel 



238 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

Snelling, the commandant, of our position, who, immediately on receiving the 
express, embarked two companies on a keel-boat, and promptly came to our 
relief. ' ' 

On the 26th day of June, 1827, two keel-boats, similar to ordinary canoe 
boats, commanded by Captain Allan Lindsay, returned from Fort Snelling, 
where they had previously delivered provisions for the troops. Some hostile 
demonstrations on the part of the Dacotahs, while ascending the river, induced 
Captain Lindsay to request Colonel Snelling, the commanding officer at the 
fort, to supply him with arms and ammunition for his garrison. The request 
was complied with, and his crew of thirty-two men were armed with muskets, 
and given a barrel of ball-cartridges. The boats passed down the Mississippi, 
Safely past the village of Wabasha, where the city of Winona is now situated. 
Shortly after passing this point, a strong wind sprung up, and the two boats 
were separated. One of the boats, the O. H. Perry, reached the mouth of 
the Bad Ax, several miles in advance of her companion. When the Perry ap- 
proached an island in the Mississippi, near the mouth of the Bad Ax, and when 
within thirty or forty yards of the bank, it received the fire of about thirty 
Winnebagoes, concealed on the banks, which was followed by blood-curdling 
war-whoops from the hidden foe. Of the sixteen men on board this boat, only 
one, a negro, was fatally wounded. The crew now concealed themselves below 
the water-line in the boat, and allowed the boat to float with the current. The 
second volley from the foes resulted in the death of one Stewart, who was pre- 
paring to shoot through a loop-hole. The Indian's bullet passed directly 
through his heart, and he fell dead while holding his undischarged musket. 

The boat now grounded on a sand-bar, and the Indians with their canoes 
attempted to board it. The crew by this time had recovered from their panic, 
and were prepared for a vigorous defense. In the foremost canoe, which con- 
tained several savages, two were killed and in their dying struggles upset their 
canoe. Two Indians, from another boat, succeeded in getting on board the keel- 
boat, where a hand-to-hand conflict ensued, which resulted in the death of the 
brave commander of the crew, named Beauchamp. Both of the daring war- 
riors who boarded the boat were killed. One of the crew, named Mander- 
ville, now commanded. He bravely sprang into the water on a sand-bar, and 
was followed by four of his brave and resolute men, who pushed the boat into 
the current, midst the rifle-balls which flew thick and fast around them. As the 
keel-boat floated safely out of shooting distance the Wmnebagoes raised a ter- 
rific yell of rage and despair, and gave the whites a farewell volley, which was 
vigorously returned, together with three hearty cheers. The boat safely ar- 
rived at Prairie du Chien in the evening of the 27th of June, with a loss of two 
of the crew killed, two mortafly and two slightly wounded, while it isestimated 
that ten or twelve of the Indians were killed, and a large number wounded. 



TERRITORIAL DAYS. 239 

Governor Cass, who had been at Butte des Morts, holding a treaty with 
the Winnebagoes, started in his canoe, and arrived at Prairie du Chien on the 
morning of July 4th. Here he ordered into the service of the United States, 
McNair's miHtary company. From this place he hastened in his canoe to 
Galena, where he raised a volunteer company, with Abner Field as captain, 
W. S. Hamilton and a man named Smith, as lieutenants. Governor Cass then 
proceeded from Galena to St. Louis, and conferred with General Atkinson, who 
was in command of Jefferson Barracks, which resulted in Atkinson's moving 
up the Mississippi, as previously stated. 

These depredations caused considerable alarm in all the frontier settle- 
ments, and especially in the lead-mine region, which then contained about five 
thousand inhabitants. The militia at Prairie du Chien, which did not exceed 
sixty men, badly armed and provided, were called out; they took possession 
of the fort, while the people of Fever river organized, about one hundred 
strong, and marched to Prairie du Chien. General Clarke, the superintendent 
of Indian affairs at St. Louis, directed Major Forsyth, agent of the Sacs and 
Foxes, to advise the chiefs of those nations to withdraw all their people from 
the Winnebagoes, in order that the Sacs and Foxes might not be mistaken for 
Winnebagoes by ranging parties, and that all of their people residing with the 
Winnebagoes must immediately retire from them, and remove to their lands 
west of the Mississippi. The miners and settlers from the lead regions collected 
at Galena, on the first alarm of Indian hostilities, and organized a force of 
mounted volunteers, choosing as their commander Colonel Henry Dodge. 
Governor Edwards, of Illinois, sent a regiment of mounted men to. Galena, 
under General McNeale, and placed the town in a state of defense. 

In the month of July, 1827, General Atkinson ascended the Mississippi 
river with the Sixth regiment, and six companies of the First regiment, consti- 
tuting a force of six hundred infantry and one hundred and fifty mounted men. 
This force was sent out for the j)urpose of taking possession of Red Bird, and 
to speedily and effectually end a further spread of Indian atrocities. General 
Atkinson at once marched into the Winnebago country, ascended the Wiscon- 
sin river, and awed the Indians into submission, without shedding a drop of 
blood. Red Bird, and six other Indians of his tribe, voluntarily surrendered 
themselves prisoners of war, in order to relieve their nation from the disastrous 
effects of a war with the whites, which would only result in their extermination. 

Red Bird and his Winnebagoes fled up the Wisconsin river, and were 
closely pursued by Colonel Dodge's mounted volunteers, who scoured both 
sides of the Wisconsin river, from its mouth to the portage. Major Whistler, 
who was in command at Fort Howard, had proceeded up the Fox river with a 
small force, and at Little Butte des Morts was reinforced by sixty-two Oneidas 
and Stockbridge Indians, under Ebenezer Childs and Joseph Dickinson. This 



240 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

force arrived on the ist day of September, 1827, on the high bluff, where the 
erection of Fort Winnebago was commenced the next year. Here, Major 
Whistler encamped in pursuance of orders to await the arrival of General 
Atkmson. 

The situation of affairs at this time, as well as the beautiful and the graphic 
manner in which the Hon. Moses M. Strong depicts the surrender of Red 
Bird, we quote :^ 

" Soon after the arrival of Major Whistler, it was learned that the Winne- 
bagoes were encamped a little more than a mile distant on the Wisconsin, where 
Portage City is now situated, and were several hundred strong. The Winne- 
bagoes had heard of General Atkinson's approach, and of Dodge's pursuit, 
before they were known to Major Whistler, and, in a few days, a great stir was 
discovered among the Indians, and a party of thirty warriors was observed, by 
the aid of a field-glass, to be approaching his command. The Indian party bore 
three flags. On two, one in front and one in rear, were the American stars 
and stripes, while the other, in the center, borne by Red Bird, was white. 
They bore no arms. When they had approached near to the Fox river, they 
stopped, and singing was heard. Those who were familiar with the air, and 
who recognized the bearer of the white flag, said: ' It is Red Bird singing his 
death-song.' When they had reached the margin of the river, Major Whistler 
ordered Captain Childs, who was officer of the guard, to take the guard to the 
river, and to ascertain what the Wmnebagoes wanted. They replied that they 
had come to deliver up the murderers. They were received by the guard, and 
taken across the river into the presence of Major Whistler. In the lead was 
Car-imaunee, a distinguished chief. He said: * They are here. Like braves 
they have come in. Treat them as braves. Do not put them in irons.' 

" The military had been drawn up in line, the Menomonie and Oneida 
Indians in groups on the left, the band of music on the right. In front of the 
center stood Red Bird and his two accomplices in the Gagnier murder, while 
those who had accompanied them formed a semicircle on the right and left. 
All eyes were fixed on Red Bird, as well they might be, for, of all his tribe, he 
was the most perfect in form, face, and gesture. In height he was about six 
feet, straight without restraint. His proportions, from his head to his feet, 
were those of the most exact symmetry, and even his fingers were models of 
beauty. His face was full of all the ennobling, and, at the same time, winning 
expressions; it appeared to be a compound of grace and dignity, of firmness 
and decision, all tempered with mildness and mercy. It was impossible to con- 
ceive that such a face concealed the heart of a murderer. 

" It was painted, one side red, the other intermixed with green and white. 
He was clothed in a Yankton suit of dressed elk-skin, perfectly white, and soft 

1. Strong's History of Wisconsin Territory, 127-130. 



TERRITORIAT. DAYS. 241 

as a kicl-glove, new and beautiful. It consisted of a jacket, ornamented with 
fringe of the same material, the sleeves being cut to fit his finely-formed arm, 
and of leggins, also of dressed elk-skin, the fringe of which was varied and 
enriched with blue beads. On his feet he wore moccasins. On each shoulder, 
in place of an epaulette, was fastened a preserved red bird. Around his neck 
he wore a collar of blue wampum, beautifully mixed with white, which was 
sewed on to a piece of cloth, whilst the claws of a panther or wild-cat, with 
their points inward, formed the rim of the collar. Around his neck were hang- 
ing strands of wampum of various lengths, the circles enlarging as they de- 
scended. There was no attempt at ornamenting the hair, after the Indian 
style ; but it was cut after the best fashion of the most civilized. Across his 
breast, in a diagonal position, and bound tight to it, was his war-pipe, at least 
three feet long, brightly ornamented with dyed horse-hair, and the feathers and 
bills of birds. Other ornaments were displayed with exquisite taste upon his 
breast and shoulders. In one of his hands he held the white flag, and in the 
other the calumet, or pipe of peace. 

" There he stood. Not a muscle moved, nor was the expression of his 
face changed a particle. He appeared conscious that, according to the Indian 
law, he had done no wrong. His conscience was at repose. Death had no terrors 
for him. He was there ]:)repared to receive the blow that should send him to 
the hayjpy hunting grounds to meet his father and his brothers, who had gone 
before him. 

" All were told to sit down, when a talk followed between the head men of 
the Winnebagoes and Major Whistler, in which the former claimed much credit 
for bringing in the captives, and hoped their white brothers would accept horses 
in commutation for the lives of their friends, and earnestly besought that, in 
any event, they might not be put in irons. They were answered and told that 
they had done well in thus coming in ; were advised to warn their people 
against killing ours, and were impressed with a proper notion of their own weak- 
ness and the extent of our power. They were told that the captives should 
not be put in irons, that they should have something to eat, and tobacco to 
smoke. 

" Red Bird then stood up, facing the commanding officer. Major Whistler. 
After a moment's pause, and a quick survey of the troops, and, with a com- 
posed observation of his people, he spoke, looking at Major Whistler, and 
said : 

" T am ready.' Then advancing a step or two, he paused and said : 'I 
do not wish to be put in irons. Let me be free. I have given away my life — 
(stooping and taking some dust between his finger and thuml) and blowing it 
away) — like that ' (eyeing the dust as it fell and vanishetl), then adding: 'I 
"would not take it back. It is gone.* 



242 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

•'Having thus spoken, he threw his hands behind him, indicating that he was 
leaving all things behind him, and marched briskly up to Major Whistler, breast 
to breast. A platoon was wheeled backward from the center of the line when, 
Major Whistler stepping aside, the prisoners marched through the line in charge 
of a file of men, to a tent that had been provided for them in the rear, where 
a guard was set over them. The other Indians then left the ground by the way 
they had come, taking with them the advice they had received, and a supply of 
meat, flour and tobacco." 

Shortly after the surrender of Red Bird, General Atkinson's troops, to- 
gether with the volunteers in command of Colonel Dodge, arrived at Fort 
Winnebago. The Indian prisoners were then sent to Fort Crawford. General 
Atkinson, after discharging the volunteers, assigned two companies of regulars 
for the occupation of Fort Crawford, ordered the other regulars to their respect- 
ive posts, while he returned to Jefferson Barracks, St. Louis. 

Red Bird died in prison at Prairie du Chien, shortly prior to the trial of 
his two accomplices. In September, 1828, Red Bird's accomplices, We-kan 
and Chic-hon-sic, were indicted, tried and convicted in the United States court, 
held by Judge Doty. They were sentenced to be hanged on the 26th of De- 
cember following. On November 3, President Adams pardoned the two ac- 
complices of Red Bird. 

These various murders and disturbances by the Winnebagoes have been 
frequently termed the "Winnebago War," although the Winnebagoes, as a 
nation, disclaimed any connection with the murders or uprisings of a few lawless 
members of their tribe. 

DEPREDATIONS OF BLACK HAWK'S BANDS. 

The next Indian disturbances within the present boundaries of Wisconsin 
were perpetrated by Black Hawk's bands, sent out by him during his flight 
through Wisconsin, and shortly before he located his camp near the Four Lakes 
(Madison). 

Shortly prior to May 22d, 1832, three Sacs joined a band of Pottawatta- 
mies, and went with them as a war party against the settlers of northern Illi- 
nois. They made an attack on a settlement on Indian creek, a tributary of the 
Fox river, of Illinois, and there massacred fifteen persons, consisting of men, 
women and children. The persons massacred belonged to the families of Hall, 
Davis, and Pettigrew. The cause of this attack originated in the fact that a 
Pottawattamie Indian had been severely beaten some time previously by Mr. 
Hall. Two of Mr. Hall's daughters were spared from the general massacre, 
through the- influence of the Sacs, and taken upon their horses to Black Hawk's 
camp, near Lake Koskonong. A few days later, they were liberated and placed 
in charge of some Winnebago chiefs, who were promised two thousand dollars 



TERRITORIAL DAYS. 243 

to secure their liberation. The two Hall girls were taken up to the fort at Blue 
Mounds, and there delivered to the whites, on June 3, 1832.^ 

The numerous murders committed by roaming Indians about this time, or 
the names of many of the persons murdered, will ever be unknown. One Darley 
was killed near Buffalo Grove on May 21st, and his body found and buried by 
a party of whites, who were searching for lands on which to settle. On May 
2 2d, this little party of eight, among whom was Felix St. Vrain, Indian agent 
for the Sacs and Foxes at Rock Island, were attacked by a party of Indians, 
who separated in small parties so as to surround and prevent their escape. In 
the flight four of the party, consisting of St. Vrain, Aaron Howley, Fowler and 
Hale, were killed. The others made their escape and reached Galena in safety. 

About this time a Mr. Winters was killed near Dixon's Ferry, and a Dunk- 
ard preacher, who wore a long beard, was decapitated, and his head carried 
off by the Indians as a trophy. He had been found by the Indians in an old 
deserted house on the Chicago road. On the 6th of June, James Aubrey was 
killed at a spring about one and one-half miles from Mound Fort. 

Captain Adam Snyder, who had been sent out to range the country be- 
tween Rock river and Galena, was fired upon by the Indians, in his camp near 
Burr Oak, on the night of the 17th of June. The next morning he pursued 
them, four in number, drove them into a sink-hole, and killed them all, 
with the loss of one of his men, who was mortally wounded. Upon their 
return to camp, bearing the wounded soldier, they were attacked by about 
seventy Indians, who had been secretly watching their maneuvers. Snyder's 
men at first attempted to retreat, but when General Whiteside, the late com- 
manding general, who had volunteered as a private, in a loud voice threatened 
to shoot the first man who attempted to run, the ranks were quickly formed. 
Both i)arties took positions behind trees, while Whiteside, being an excellent 
marksman, soon shot the Indian leader with his rifle, which caused the Indians 
to retreat. They were not pursued, however, and the Indian loss was not as- 
certained. Snyder's loss was two men killed and one wounded. 

On June 14th, the Indians made an attack on a party of seven men who 
were working in a cornfield, near the mouth of Spafford's creek on the Peca- 
tonica, five of whom were killed, while the other two escaped by extraordinary 
activity and exertion. Colonel Dodge had returned home on this day, with the 
volunteers from Iowa county, from an exploring expedition he had made to the 
Rock river. On this expedition he had buried the dead bodies of St. Vrain, 
Fowler and Hale, the land-hunters, but the body of Howley was never found. 
Immediately upon his arrival at Fort Dodge, an express arrived informing him 
of the murder of Spafford and four of his companions, at the cornfield on the 
Pecatonica. 

1. Smith's History of Wisconsin, Vol. III., 174. 



244 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

"battle of PECATONICA. 

Colonel Dodge, upon receiving information of these murders, sent an 
express to Platte Mounds for Captain J. H. Gentry to collect all available forces, 
insiantej\ and repair to Hamilton's Fort, at Wiota. This dispatch was sent at 
midnight, and the next morning Colonel Dodge left his home, accompanied by 
Thomas Jenkins and John Messersmith, for Hamilton's settlement. They 
passed Mound Fort, left orders and encamped at night at Fretwell's Diggins. 
The next morning, they reached Hamilton's Fort, where they met a German, 
named Apple, on horseback, on his way to his cabin to prepare himself for 
service. Colonel Dodge and his two friends had not proceeded far toward the 
fort, when gunshots were heard, and Apple's horse galloped back to warn the 
fort, bloody, and without his rider. Captain Gentry's forces had arrived at the 
fort the preceding evening, with their horses. They were instantly made ready 
for service, with Colonel Dodge as commander. Colonel Dodge and his posse 
soon discovered the Indian trail leading over the prairie, which they followed, 
and overtook the Indians on the banks of the Pecatonica. The Indians were 
on the opposite side, concealed under sand-banks. Colonel Dodge detailed 
seven of his twenty-eight men to hold the horses, while he, with the remaining 
twenty-one men, boldly waded the river, and upon climbing the opposite bank 
instantly received the fire of the Indians. Without giving the Indians time to 
reload, the intrepid leader and his forces at once charged upon them. The 
fight soon became a hand-to-hand conflict, and was of short duration, for, be- 
fore Dodge's volunteers had time to reload their pieces a second time, every In- 
dian, seventeen in number, was killed, while the losses of the volunteers were 
three killed and one wounded. Not an Indian escaped to report to Black Hawk 
their disastrous fight with Colonel Dodge and his brave, but diminutive band, 
on the banks of the Pecatonica. 

On June isth, the Illinois volunteers, under the governor's requisition, had 
arrived at the places of rendezvous, and were formed into three brigades. 
The first was commanded by General Alexander Posey, the second by General 
Milton R. Alexander, and the third by General James D. Henry. The whole 
force at this time was thirty-two hundred men, besides three companies of 
rangers, under the command of Major Bogart, who were left behind to guard 
the frontier settlements. 

On June 20th, a small band of Indians were seen on the prairie, about two 
miles east of Mound Fort. Lieutenant Force, and a man named Green , mounted 
their horses, and went out on the prairie to reconnoiter. The people at the 
fort soon saw Lieutenant Force surrounded by Indians, who had been in am- 
bush, and instantly killed, while Green was overtaken, while on his way back 
to the fort, and was also killed. 



TERRITORIAL DAYS. 245 

Colonel Dodge, who was at Fort Union, upon being apprised of this event, 
assembled a company of his volunteers, and pursued thelndians as far as Sugar 
river, where they scattered. The volunteers returned after burying the bodies 
of Force and Green. 

On June 2 2d, the new forces, assembled on the Illinois river, now took up 
their line of march under General Atkinson, and moved up Rock river. Major 
John Dement, with a batallion of spies attached to the First brigade, was sent 
in advance, while the main army was to concentrate at Dixon. 

On June 24th, an attempt was made, by a large body of warriors, to sur- 
prise and capture the fort at Buffalo Grove, twelve miles northwest of Dixon 
Ferry. This post was guarded by one hundred and fifty militia, who were 
well prepared to meet the enemy. After a sharp contest, during which sixteen 
Indians were killed, the Indians retreated. Several of the whites Avere wounded. 

On June 25th, a fierce fight took place between Major Dement's company 
of spies and a band of Indians, not far from Kellogg's Grove. In this con- 
test the Indians lost nine of their number, two of whom were chiefs, besides 
several who were wounded. Five of the whites were killed, many wounded, 
and thirty of their horses lost. 

About this time. Black Hawk, with one hundred and fifty warriors, made 
an attack on Apple River Fort, near the present city of Elizabeth, about twelve 
miles from Galena. This fort was a stockade of logs stuck in the ground, with 
block-houses at the corners. It was constructed for the protection of miners, 
who lived in their houses in the vicinity during the daytime, and at night re- 
turned to the fort for protection. Upon the first alarm, the scattered inhabi- 
tants at once rallied to the fort for protection. The fort was protected by 
twenty-five men, commanded by Captain Stone. After the Indians had kept 
up an incessant fire upon the fort for about fifteen hours, they retreated. The 
loss at the fort was one killed, and one wounded. 

OA June 29, three men were attacked in a field, near the state line, and 
two of them killed. The bodies of the murdered men, John Thompson and 
James Boxley, were shockingly mutilated. Both had been scalped and the 
heart of the former taken out. Major Stevenson followed the trail of the In- 
dians to the Mississippi, where they found that the Indians had stolen a canoe 
and crossed to the west side. 

Black Hawk's marauding bands had, by this time, centered near the Four 
Lakes, while the white army was stealthily following them. The movements 
of the white army, as well as Black Hawk and his now half-starved followers, 
are given in detail in the previous chapters, under ' ' Black Hawk — Wars in Which 
He Participated." 



Chapter XXX. 
TERRITORIAL DAYS. 

Reminiscences. — Land Offices Established at Green B.iy and Prairie du Chien. — Land 
Sales. — Judicial System. 

The Winnebago Indian disturbances, the Black Hawk invasion, with all of 
its attributed horrors and atrocities, having been settled by the old Mosaic Law^ 
" an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth," with compound interest added, the 
overflowing cities of the east, and the hardy frontiersmen, in the then-called 
west, now rapidly settled in the southern, western and eastern portions of the 
territory now known as Wisconsin. 

It will be remembered that the Green Bay and Prairie du Chien settlers 
were, at this time, the only people who cultivated the lands adjacent to the 
settlements, to any extent. At Prairie du Chien, the farmers were a more 
thrifty people than those at Green Bay. They raised large quantities of small 
grain at the former place, such as wheat, barley, oats, peas, and a limited 
amount of potatoes and onions. Among three or four farmers they owned 
what was called a horse flouring-mill. The granite rock found in the surround- 
ing country furnished them the mill-stones. At these primitive mills they ground 
their wheat, and sifted the flour by hand. The surplus flour was sold to Indian 
traders, in exchange for furs, venison and deer-skins. 

In these days the early inhabitants of Green Bay differed little from those 
of Prairie du Chien. They were a characteristic compound of civilization and 
primitive simplicity, ever exhibitmg the polite and lively characteristics of the 
French, and the carelessness and improvidence of the aborigines, yet possessing 
the virtues of hospitality and warmth of heart toward aU strangers. 

The Hon. H. S. Baird, of Green Bay, in speaking of those early days, 
uses the following language : 

"During the early days of my residence here, the social circle, although 
limited, was by no means insignificant. It was composed of the families of 
the garrison and the Americans, and several of the old settlers. If it was small, 
it was also united by the ties of friendship and good feeling. Free from the 
formalities and customs which are observed by the elite of the present day, we 
met to enjoy ourselves, more Hke members of one family, than as strangers. 
The young people of that period (and all felt young then) would assemble, on 
a few hours' notice, at the house of a neighbor, without form or ceremony. 
Young ladies were then expected to appear at an early hour in the evening, 
and not at the usual hour of retiring to rest : nor were they required to appear 
in court or fancy dresses. The merry dance followed, and all enjoyed them- 
selves until the early hours of the morning. One custom prevailed universally 

246 



TERRITORIAL DAYS. 247 

among all classes, even extending to the Indians, — that of devoting the holi- 
days to festivity and amusement, and especially that of "calling" on New 
Year's Day. This custom was confined to no class in particular. All ob- 
served it; and many met on that day, who did not meet again until the suc- 
ceeding year. All then shook hands, and exchanged mutual good wishes. 
All old animosities were forgotten, all differences settled, and universal peace 
established. During the winter season Green Bay was entirely isolated. 
Cut off from communication with all other parts of the civilized world, her in- 
habitants were left to their own resources for nearly half a year. The mails 
were few and far between. Sometimes but once a month, never more than 
twice, did we receive them ; so that the news received liere was no longer 
news. The mails were carried on a man's shoulders from Chicago to Green 
Bay, through the wilderness, a distance of about two hundred and fifty miles, 
and could not contain a great quantity of interesting reading matter. Under 
such circumstances, it became necessary that we should devise some means to 
enliven our time, and we did so accordingly; and I look back upon those 
years as among the most agreeable of my life. The country, at that early day, 
was destitute of roads or places of public entertainment. Nothing but the 
path, or 'Indian trail,' traversed the wide expanse of forest and prairie from 
Lake Michigan to the Mississippi ; and the travel by land was done on foot or 
on horseback. But there was then another mode of locomotion, veiy gen- 
erally adopted by those who took long journeys, now become obsolete, and 
which would be laughed at by the present fast-going generation ; that of the 
Indian or bark canoe. The canoe was used in all cases where comfort and 
expedition were desired. These may appear strange words, when you reflect 
that the traveler sat cooped up all day in a space about four feet square, and at 
night encamped on the bank of the stream, cooked his own supper and slept 
upon the ground, with no covering but a tent and blanket, or, sometimes, 
nothing but the wide canopy of heaven, having, after a day of toil and labor 
by his crew, accomplished a journey of thirty or forty miles. But these 
journeys were not destitute of interest. The voyegeur was enHvened by the 
merry song of his light-hearted and ever-happy Canadian crew, his eye de- 
lighted by the constantly varying scenery of the country through which he 
passed, at liberty to select a spot for his encampment, and to stop when fa- 
tigued with the day's travel, and, above all, free from care, and from che fear- 
ful apprehensions of all modern travelers on railroads and steamboats — that of 
being blown up, burned, or drowned. 

"lean better illustrate this early. mode of traveling, by giving an account 
of a party of pleasure undertaken and accomplished by myself. In May, 
1830, being obliged to go on the annual circuit to Prairie du Chien, to attend 
court, I concluded to make it a matter of pleasure, as well as business. I ac- 



248 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

cordingly obtained a good-sized and substantial nortriwest bark canoe (about 
five fathoms, or thirty feet, in length, and five feefwide in the center), a good 
tent, or ' marquee,' together v^^ith mattresses, blankets, beddmg, mess-basket 
and all things required as an outfit on such expeditions. The party consisted 
of my wife, self, two small children, two young ladies as companions, and a 
servant-girl; my crew of four Canadians (experienced men and good singers) 
and two Menomonie Indians as bow and steersmen. The canoe was pro- 
pelled both by oars and paddles. We ascended the Fox river to Fort Win- 
nebago, and descended the Wisconsin to the Mississippi, and thence up the 
latter, four miles to Prairie du Chien. The voyage occupied eight or nine 
days in going, and about the same length of time in returning, during which 
the ladies camped out every night except two. They did all the cooking and 
household work. The former was no small item; for, with appetites sharpened by 
pure air and exercise, and with abundance of fresh venison, with fowl and 
fish to satisfy them, the quantity of viands consumed by the party would have 
astonished modern epicures, and, perhaps, shocked the delicate tastes of city 
belles. We frequently encamped early in the afternoon — at some spot which 
attracted our attention from its natural beauty or romantic appearance — and 
strolled along the bank of the stream, plucking beautiful wild-flowers which 
abounded; or clambering up some high bluff" or commanding headland, ob- 
tained a view of the surrounding country, and traced the meandering stream 
through its high banks, far in the distance. It was in the merry month of 
May, when the forest was clothed in its deepest verdure, the hills and 
prairies redolent with flowers, and the woods tenanted by melodious song- 
sters. It was truly a trip of pleasure and enjoyment. Many trips of pleasure 
have been undertaken where parties may have experienced the refinements 
and accommodations, and enjoyed the luxuries to be found in the present day 
in old and long-settled countries, but I believe few, if any, realized more true 
delight and satisfaction than did this party of pleasure in a bark canoe." 

The narratives of the early settlers of Wisconsin, as given by them in 
their unique language, are such as will interest the most fastidious reader. The 
address of the Hon. C. M. Baker, an old pioneer, at the Old Settlers' meeting 
of Walworth county, in 1S69, in the following language, is worthy of record 
in any history : 

" I have spoken of the men who first settled old Walworth; but what, old 
comrades, in this life-battle in the wilderness that was — what of our compan- 
ions, the zuontoi? 

" Most of them had been delicately reared, and were accustomed to the 
luxuries and refinements of cultivated society; and most, or all, had good 
homes, with the necessaries and conveniences of life in abundance, and were 
surrounded by kind friends and dear relatives. To these they had been bred; 



TKRRITORIAL DAYS. 249 

to all these they were strongly attached. But these ties were sundered, these 
homes were left behind, when, after the last trunk was packed, and the last 
farewell was sadly uttered, they set their faces westward for a new life and a 
new home, they knew not whither ; but they knew it must be among strangers. 
They shared with us the toils of the journey, the weary miles of sunshine and 
storm, as we journeyed on and onward. They partook with us of the coarse 
fare and rude accommodations of the wagon and wayside, the canal-boat and 
the steamer, the log-tavern and the bivouac under the open heavens — and all 
this they encountered without murmuring, and cheerfully. 

"And when, late in autumn or early spring, it may be in the cold storm or 
driving mists and chilling winds that cut to the bone, they took their departure 
from Chicago or Milwaukee, the last outposts of civilization, over those low, 
lonely prairies which surrounded the one, or through the gloomy forests which 
enveloped the other, over dismal roads beset with ruts or stumps, without sign 
of cultivation or human habitation, — then it was that the hour of bitter trial 
came to their hearts; then it was, that amid their loneliness and utter heart- 
desolation, the dear homes and kindred they had left rose up before them, 
and, through their tears, they looked down upon the little ones that clung to 
them. But not a murmur, not a word of regret or repining escaped them. 
The feelings, too deep for uttering, which swelled within them, were smothered 
in their bosoms. When we, at last (some later, some earher), had found a 
place Avhere to make a home in these pleasant groves and prairies, — pleasant to 
us men: for here there were herds of bounding deer and flocks of wild-fowl, 
the wolf and the sand-hill crane, and game large and small, to give us sport. 
The lakes and streams abounded in fish, and we could take them at our will. 
The country was all open, and free to roam over as one great park. There 
was excitement for us in all this, suited to our rougher natures and coarser 
tastes. We could roam and fish or hunt as we wished, amid the freshness and 
beauties of nature. But how was it for our wives ? From all these bright, and, 
to us, fascinating scenes and pastimes, they were excluded. They were shut 
up with the children in log-cabins, — when they were fortunate enough to get 
them, — rude huts, without floors often, and, not infrequently, without doors 
or windows, while the cold, bleak winds of March and December whistled 
through them. Frecjuently they were covered with shakes fastened on with 
poles, between which the stars at night looked down upon the faithful mother 
and her sleeping infants. Here, in one small room, filled, perhaps, with 
smoke; without furniture, except a little of the rudest kind, — rough-slab stools, 
an equally rough table, and a bedstead, if any, made of poles fastened into the 
house, without kitchen utensils, save, perchance, a kettle, a skillet, and a fry- 
ing-pan; destitute of crockery, and with a little tinware, — they were called 
upon to do, unaided, the duties of a housewife. With these conveniences, and 



250 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

these surroundings, they took upon themselves, for weeks and months, and 
even for years, the burden of their households in a continual struggle with 
hinderances and perplexities. These were the heroic women to whom our 
hearts did homage; and I should fail in my duty at this time, if, in the roll-call 
of worthy and honorable names, they should not be remembered." 

The right of Indian occupancy of all that portion of the territory west cf 
Lake Michigan, and lying south and east of the Wisconsin and Fox rivers, had 
been extinguished by treaties, prior to 1834, and now became subject to settle- 
ment. 

This portion of the Territory of Michigan was, in June, 1834, divided into 
two land districts : the Wisconsin district, with the land-office at Mineral Point, 
and the Green Bay district, with the land-office at Green Bay. The Green Bay 
district was subsequently redivided, and the Milwaukee district established, with 
its land-office at Milwaukee. 

The first public sale of lands was made on the lothday of November, 1834, 
at Mineral Point, in pursuance of the proclamation of the president, dated July 
7, 1834, by which all the lands south of the Wisconsin river, and west of the 
fourth principal meridian, wepe offered for sale. The president, on May 6, 1835, 
issued two other proclamations for land sales, one directing sales at Green Bay, 
on the 17th and 31st days of August, 1835, ^^"^^ ^'^^ other for sales at Mineral 
Point, on the 7th and 21st days of September, 1835. These sales brought into 
market all the lands in the present counties of Iowa, LaFayette, Green, Dodge, 
Manitowoc, Kewaunee, Calumet and that portion of the counties of Brown, 
Outagamie, and Winnebago, lying west of the Fox river, and north of Lake 
Michigan ; also portions of the counties of Rock, Columbia, Green Lake, and 
Marquette, also fractional townships in Milwaukee and Ozaukee counties, 
which included almost the entire city of Milwaukee. 

By proclamation of the president, dated August 13, 1835, another sale was 
held at Green Bay, on November i6th following, at which time all the lands in 
Sheboygan county, five townships in Fond du Lac county, two in Washington, 
and four in Ozaukee county, were offered for sale. 

According to the pre-emption laws in force at the time of the land sales 
in August and September, 1835, ^^^^Y re^'uired, that to entitle the settler to a 
pre-emption right, he should have cultivated some part of his land during the 
year 1833. In numerous instances, settlers had gone upon public lands with 
their famihes,in good faith, and made homes for themselves and children, with 
the hope that the pre-emption laws would be extended to them. An act had 
been prepared for this purpose, but failed to pass, which left them without the 
protection of any pre-emption law, thus creating widespread fear that they 
would be deprived of their hard-earned homes and possessions by the greed of 
the heartless speculators, who were fast flocking from the east. When the 



TERRITORIAL DAYS. 251 

time arrived for the Green Bay sales, a spirit of honorable dealing and justice 
prevailed to an extent that repressed the rapacity of the speculators. A meet- 
ing of the settlers had been called, and a committee appointed, which deter- 
mined the justice and good faith of the settlers to their respective claims. In 
every case the committee's decision was respected by the speculators. The 
good feeling which resulted by the speculators waiving their rights to purchase 
these lands was strongly evidenced by the following publication, which ap- 
peared at the time : 

" The settlers of Milwaukee tender their most cordial acknowledgments 
to the gentlemen who attended the land sales for the handsome manner in 
which their claims were regarded. And they take pleasure in saying thct no 
case occurred which was not justly entitled to the consideration which it 

received. 

"James Sanderson, B. W. Finch, 

"James Clyman, . T. C. Dousman, 

"George H. Walker, Samuel Brown, 

"Otis Hubbard." 

The territorial laws of Michigan, so far as applicable, governed the counties 
of Brown, Crawford, Iowa, and Milwaukee, until they were altered or repealed 
by the legislative assembly of Wisconsin, after its organization on July 4, 
1836. 

The most important of these laws were those affecting the rights of per- 
sonal property. 

The judicial system of the Territory of Michigan consisted of the su- 
preme courts, circuit courts, county courts, probate courts, and justices of 
the peace. The supreme court consisted of three judges, appointed by the 
president of the United States. This court had original jurisdiction in 
actions at law where the matter in controversy exceeded one thousand dol- 
lars; all cases of action for divorce and ejectment, and all criminal cases, when 
the punishment was capital, and all other cases not made recognizable, not 
having original or appellate jurisdiction, before some other court. It had con- 
current jurisdiction with the county courts of all other crimes and offenses, 
and appellate jurisdiction from the county courts in all civil cases in wlrich 
those courts had original jurisdiction. The supreme court was clothed with 
power to issue writs of habeas-corpus, mandamus, prohibition, error, superse- 
deas, procedendo, certiorari, scire-facias, and such other writs as were neces- 
sary to enforce the administration of both law and equity. This court held 
one annual term at Detroit, commencing on the third Monday in September. 
In 1825, the Territory of Michigan, except the counties of Brown, Crawford 
and Michilimackinac, was di\i(lcd into five circuits, and one of the judges of 
the supreme court was required to hold a circuit court in each circuit. By an 



252 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

act of congress, passed in 1823, an additional judge for the territory was re- 
quired to be appointed for the counties of Brown, Crawford, and Michihmack- 
inac, thereby rendering it unnecessary for the extension of the circuit court 
system of eastern Michigan to be exercised over these counties, and they were 
therefore excepted from the operation of the circuit court system estabhshed 
in 1825. 

The clerks of the county courts were appointed by the governor. The 
terms of court were limited to two weeks. By the act of April 12, 1827, it 
was provided that the county courts should have jurisdiction in all matters 
properly recognizable in chancery, where the matter in controversy did not ex- 
ceed one thousand dollars, with appellate rights in all cases. 

The probate court consisted of a judge in each county, who was appointed 
by the governor, and clothed with the power and jurisdiction ordinarily ex- 
ercised by such courts. The judicial powers vested in the justices of the peace 
were similar to those now exercised by like officers, except that they were re- 
stricted to matters wherein the subject in controversy did not exceed one 
hundred dollars. 

On August 22, 1835, in accordance with the governor's suggestion, an 
act was passed fixing the first Monday of October as the time for holding the 
election of a delegate to congress, and the members of the legislative council. 
The mode of canvassing was also changed by this act. The act provided that 
the returns from the counties west of Lake Michigan should be made to the 
clerk of the county of Brown, who should make return thereof to the clerk of 
the supreme court of the territory, at Detroit. 

In pursuance of the act of March 30, 1835, ^^ amended. Governor Mason 
issued a proclamation making a new apportionment, and bearing date August 
5, 1835, which apportionment was as follows: 

"The members of the legislative council to the several counties in that 
district of country, not embraced in the state of Michigan." It was pro- 
claimed that 

"The counties of Brown and Milwaukee shall constitute the first district, 
and shall be entitled to elect five members of the legislative council. 

"The county of Iowa shall constitute the second district, and shall be 
entitled to elect three members. 

"The county of Crawford shall constitute the third district, and shall be 
entitled to elect one member. 

"The county of Dubuque shall constitute the fourth district, and shall be 
entitled to elect two members. 

"The county of Des Moines shall constitute the fifth district, and shall be 
entitled to elect two members." 

The proclamation also contained the following notice : 



TERRITORIAL DAYS. 253 

"And I do further appoint Friday, the ist day of January, next, for the 
meeting of the said legislative council, and the members thereof are hereby 
required to convene on that day at Green Bay, in the county of P.rown, or such 
other place as may be hereafter directed by law, in order to proceed in the ex- 
ecution of their official duties." 

On the loth day of June, 1836, James D. Doty was unanimously nomi- 
nated as the Democratic candidate for delegate to congress. Shortly after his 
nomination, a number of the citizens of Brown county prevailed upon Morgan 
L. Martin, of Green Bay, to become a Democratic candidate for delegate, which 
he accepted. In pursuance to a call published in the Galena newspapers, a 
meeting of the citizens of Iowa county, held at Mineral Point, on May 23d, 
nominated George W. Jones as a candidate for delegate to congress. This 
nomination was ratified by a large meeting held at Dubuque. About this time, 
William Woodbridge, of Detroit, was also nominated for delegate to congress. 
These gentlemen were all professed Democrats. The result of the very lively 
political campaign, was the election of George W. Jones. 

There were numerous rival candidates in most of the counties for the 
members of the legislative council, which excited great interest, and resulted 
in the election of the following members : 

Brown county, John Lawe, and William B. Slaughter. 
Milwaukee county, Cieorge H. AWilker, Gilbert Knapp, and Benj. H. 
Edgerton. 

Iowa county, William S. Hamilton, James R. Vineyard, and Robert C. 
Hoard. 

Crawford county, Thomas P. Burnett. 
Dubuque county, Allen Hill, and John Parker. 
Des Moines county, Joseph B. Teas, and Jeremiah Smith. 
John S. Horner, the successor of Governor Mason, after the election 
issued a proclamation, as secretary and acting-governor, changing the time of 
the meeting of the legislative council from the ist day of January, 1836, to 
the ist day of December, 1835. This proclamation was dated November 9, 
1835, and only twenty-one days before the time fixed for the meeting. 

Owing to the uncertain movements of the mails in those days, it was 
impossible for the members to receive information of the change of the time of 
meeting as fixed in the proclamation. The Des Moines members did not learn of 
the change of time until they arrived at Galena, on December 20th, while en- 
route to Green Bay to attend the session. None of the members-elect went 
to Green Bay on the ist of December, nor did Governor Horner go there, either. 
This action of Governor Horner evoked numerous severe criticisms from 
the people and the press, and caused considerable animation at the January 
session. 



254 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

On January i, 1836, a quorum of the members-elect of the seventh legis- 
lative council met at Green Bay, and organized temporarily by electing Joseph 
B. Teas president pro tem., A. G. Ellis, secretary pro tem., and Levi Sterling, 
sergeant-at-arms pro tem. The oath of office was administered to the mem- 
bers present by the secretary pro tem., acting in the capacity of a justice of 
the peace of Brown county. Nine members only were present: Messrs. 
Lawe, Slaughter, Knapp, Edgerton, Hamilton, Vineyard, Burnett, Teas, and 
Smith. The absentees were Messrs. Walker of Milwaukee, Hoard of Iowa, 
and Hill and Parker of Dubuque. 

Congress, on June 15, 1836, provided an act for the purpose of the ad- 
mission of Michigan as a state into the union, upon certain conditions enumer- 
ated in the act, relating principally to its boundaries; but in consequence of the 
difficulties arising out of the boundary question, Michigan was not admitted 
into the union as a state, until January 26, 1837. 

That portion of the Territory of Michigan, not within the new state of 
Michigan, as prescribed by the act, still remained vested with all the govern- 
mental powers of the Territory of Michigan, which embraced the powers of 
electing a delegate to congress, and a legislative council of thirteen members. 

That which was known as the contingent remainder of the ancient Terri- 
tory of Michigan consisted of the counties of Brown, Milwaukee, Iowa, 
Crawford, Dubuque, and Des Moines, and contained a population of about 
fifteen thousand. 

Peninsular Michigan was not admitted into the union until January, 
1837, in consequence of its boundary troubles, although it had adopted a 
state constitution and formed a state government, Avith all its branches, as it 
had aright to do under the ordinance of 1787. At the session of the legisla- 
tive council of the Territory of Michigan, held on August 17, 1835, at Detroit, 
Steven T. Mason, secretary and acting-governor, in his message, referring to 
the act of March 30, 1835, said: 

"The anticipated contingency will arise by the organization of the con- 
templated state government in November next. The general law regulating 
these elections requires the returns of elections to be made to the secretary 
of the territory, who, with the attorney-general and treasurer, constitute the 
board of canvassers, who are authorized to give a certificate of election to the 
delegate-elect. The election, however, occurring before the appointment of 
these officers under the territorial government of Wisconsin, it will be neces- 
sary to create some other board of canvassers to meet the emergency, and to 
empower them to issue a certificate of election. Such an amendment of the 
act of March 30, 1835, ^^ respectfully suggested for your consideration." 



Chapter XXXI . 

Establishment of the Territory of Wisconsin. — Boundaries. — The Executive and Judi- 
ciary Departments. — Elections. — Census, 1830-1845. — Products, 1839. — Population of the 
Territory in 1840. — Valuation of Property in 1845. — Table of Distances from Mouth of the 
Fox to the Portage. 

On December 7, 1836, upon the assembling of congress, Geo. W. Jones 
appeared with the delegates from the other territories, and, after qualifying, 
took his seat as representative without opposition, although affidavits and cer- 
tificates had been prepared for a contest, with a view of placing Mr. Wood- 
bridge in his seat. 

One of the important features of this session was the passage of an act, 
"establishing the territorial government of Wisconsin. This bill originated in 
the senate, and after having being read the first and second times in the house 
of representatives, was, on the 30th day of March, referred to the committee 
of the whole. 

During the month of April various amendments were offered, many of 
which were rejected, and, while the bill was passed April 20, 1836, it was 
not until the 4th day of July, 1836, that it took eftect. 

BOUNDARIES. 
"The territory was bounded, east by a Ime drawn from the northeast corner 
of the state of Illinois, through the middle of Lake Michigan, to a point in 
the middle of said lake and opposite the main channel of Green Bay, and 
through said channel and Green Bay to the mouth of the Menomonie river; 
thence through the middle of the main channel of said river, to that head of 
said rivernearest to the Lake of the Desert; thence in a direct line to the middle 
of said lake ; thence through the middle of the main channel of the Montreal 
river to its mouth; thence with a direct line across Lake Superior to where the 
territorial line of the United States touches said lake northwest ; thence on the 
north with the said territorial line, to the White Earth river; on the west by a 
line from the said boundary line following down the middle of the main chan- 
nel of White Earth river, to the Missouri river, and down the middle of the 
main channel of the Missouri river to a point due west from the northwest cor- 
ner of the state of Missouri (at that time the western boundary of Missouri 
was the meridian line passing through the middle of the mouth of the Kansas 
river, but by an act passed subsequently, at the same session, it was extended 
to the Missouri river) ; and on the south side from said point due east to the 
northwest corner of the state of Missouri, and thence with the boundaries of 
the states of Missouri and Illinois, as already fixed by acts of congress." * 

'Strong's History of Wisconsin Territory, 210. 

255 



256 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

The executive power was vested in a governor, who held his office for 
three years, subject to removal by the president. The governor was com- 
mandant-in-chief of the militia, and was required to reside in the territory. 
He was authorized to perform the duties and receive the emoluments of super- 
intendent of Indian affairs; was required to approve all laws before they should 
take effect, and was clothed with the pardoning power for offenses against the 
laws of the territory, with the right to reprieve for offenses against the laws of 
the United States, until the decision of the president could be made known. 
His salary as governor and superintendent of Indian affairs was fixed at two 
thousand five hundred dollars per year. 

The secretary of the territory held his term of office for four years, subject 
to removal by the president. He was authorized and required to perform all 
the duties and the powers of the governor, during any vacancy caused by 
death, removal, or resignation, or during the governor's absence. He was 
also required to record and preserve all the laws and proceedings of the legislative 
assembly. The salary of the secretary was twelve hundred dollars per annum. 

The legislative power was vested in the governor, and a legislative as- 
sembly. The legislative assembly consisted of a council and a house of repre- 
sentatives, elected by the qualified voters in the territory. The council con- 
sisted of thirteen members, whose term of office was for four years. The 
house of representatives consisted of twenty-six members, whose term of office 
was for two years. The compensation of the members of each house was three 
dollars per day, and three dollars for every twenty miles' travel, both ways. 

Under the act, the first election was to be held at the time and place 
designated by the governor. The governor was directed to cause a census to 
be made by the sheriffs of the several counties, prior to the first election, and 
he was authorized and directed to declare the number of members of the house 
of representatives to which each county was entitled, and to declare who was 
elected. The legislative session, in any one year, was limited to seventy-five days. 

Every free white male citizen of the United States above the age of 
twenty-one, who was an inhabitant of the territory at the time it was first or- 
ganized, was entided to vote at the first election, and wasehgible to any office in 
the territory. The qualifications of voters at subsequent elections were to be 
determined by the legislative assembly. 

The judicial power of the territory was vested in a supreme court, district 
courts, probate courts, and justices of the peace. The supreme court was to 
consist of a chief-justice and two associate justices, to hold their offices during 
good behavior; they were to receive an annual salary of eighteen hundred 
dollars. The territory was to be divided into three judicial districts, and a 
district court to be held in each, and presided over by one of the judges 
of the supreme court. 



TERRITORIAL DAYS. 257 

The organic act also provided for the election of a delegate to the national 
house of representatives, to serve for the term of two years. The delegate was 
entided to the same rights and privileges granted to the delegates from the 
several territories to the house of representatives. 

Twenty thousand dollars was appropriated to defray the expenses of erect- 
ing public buildings at the seat of government, and an appropriation of five 
thousand dollars was made for the purchase of a library for the accommoda- 
tion of the assembly and supreme court. Suitable provisions were also made 
for the transfer of pending judicial proceedings from the Michigan courts to 
those of the Territory of Wisconsin. 

The population of the territory, in August, 1836, was as follows: 

Brown county 2,706 

Crawford county 854 

Des Moines county 6,257 

Dubuque county 4,274 

Iowa county 5' 234 

Milwaukee county 2,893 



Total 



Governor Dodge, on September 9, 1836, issued a proclamation, stadng, 
in effect, that he had apportioned the members of the council and house of 
representatives among the several counties of the territory as follows : 

Brown, members of council 2 members of house of representatives... 3 

Crawford, members of council o members of house of representatives... 2 

Milwaukee, members of council.... 2 members of house of representatives... 3 

Iowa, members of council 3 members of house of representatives... 6 

Dubuque, members of council 3 members of house of representatives... 5 

Des Moines, members of council. ..3 members of house of representatives... 7 

The proclamation, among other things, further ordered that the first terri- 
torial election be held on the second Monday of October, and directed that the 
members elected from the several counties should convene at Iklmont, in the 
county of Iowa, on October 25, 1836, for the purpose of organizing the first 
session of the legislative assembly. 

On the second day of the session. Governor Henry Dodge deliv^ered his 
message in person to the two houses, jointly assembled. The pronounced 
feature of the message was the recommendation of early action in defining the 
jurisdiction and powers of the several courts, dividing the territory into judicial 
circuits, and prescribing the times and places of holding tlie various courts. 

It also recommended a memorial to congress, asking for the extension of 
the right of pre-emption to settlers on public lands, suggesting that the price 



258 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

of public lands should be reduced, and graded according to the value of the 
land, and that the public interest would be promoted by the establishment of a 
surveyor-general's office within the territory. 

It also recommended a memorial to congress, requesting an appropriation 
of twenty-five thousand dollars for the completion of the work of the removal 
of the obstructions in the rapids of the Upper Mississippi, for which congress 
had previously appropriated forty thousand dollars ; also for an appropriation 
sufficient to cover the surveying of harbors on Lake Michigan, and for the 
construction of harbors and lighthouses ; also for the survey of Fox river, 
from Green Bay to Fort Winnebago. 

The first act of the session privileged the members of both houses from 
arrest, and conferred upon each body the authority to punish for contempt. 

The next act was the division of the territory into three judicial districts. 
Crawford and Iowa counties constituted the first district, and were assigned to 
the chief-justice ; Dubuque and Des Moines counties constituted the second 
district, to which Judge Irwin was assigned; Milwaukee and Brown counties 
constituted the third district, which was assigned to Judge Frazer. 

The Bank of Wisconsin, at Green Bay, was incorporated in 1835, by the 
legislative council of Michigan territory. At this session of the legislature, the 
Miners' Bank, of Dubuque, the Bank of Mineral Point, and the Bank of Mil- 
waukee were incorporated, organized, and went into operation, and all be- 
came bankrupt. The loss sustained by the community, by the failure of the 
bank at Mineral Point, was over two hundred thousand dollars. 

All of the territory, south and east of the Wisconsin and Fox rivers, was 
sub-divided into counties. In most of the counties the county seats were 
established at the same session of the legislature. The paramount and all- 
absorbing question at this session of the legislature was the location of a per- 
manent seat of government. Millions of acres of the public domain had 
passed out of the control of the goverment, and to a large extent was in the 
hands of speculators, who were anxious to establish the seat of government in 
a location that was favorable to their interests. This exerted a marked influ- 
ence upon the Belmont legislature. Madison, Belmont, Fond du Lac, and 
Cassville were the principal points which were prominently urged upon the 
consideration of both houses of the legislature. 

Judge James B. Doty and Steven T. Mason, the governor of Michigan 
territory, purchased from the government about one thousand acres of land, in 
Sections 13, 14, 23, and 24, upon the corner of which the AVisconsin capitol 
now stands, and selected the isthmus between the third and fourth of the Four 
Lakes, as the desirable site for the future capital of the territory. Upon this 
tract of land, a town had been platted, under the auspices of its founders, and 
called Madison. Town lots in Madison were freely distributed among the 



TERRITORIAL DAYS. 259 

members of the legislature, and others supposed to have influence with thera. 
After nearly a month had been spent in lobbying, the absorbing question was 
disposed of by the passage of a bill, on the 23d day of November, 1836, fixing 
upon Madison as the seat of government, and providing that the sessions ot 
the legislative assembly should be held at Burlington, in Des Moines county, un- 
til March 4, 1839, unless the public buildings at Madison should sooner be com- 
pleted. When the bill was reported back by the committee of the whole, and 
under consideration in the council, a spirited attack was made upon it, and 
divers motions made to strike out the name Madison, and to insert some 
other place were successively made ni favor of Fond du Lac, Portage, Dubuque, 
Milwaukee, Helena, Belmont, Racine, Platteville, Mineral Point, Cassville, 
Belleview, Koshkonong, Wisconsinapolis, Green Bay, Wisconsin City, and 
Peru. The result upon each vote was the same — ayes 6, noes 7. The mem- 
bers of the council who voted for the bill, locating Madison as the seat of gov- 
ernment, were: Messrs. Arndt, Brigham, Ingram, Sweet, Smith, Terry, and 
Teas; and those who voted against it were Messrs. Foley, Knapp, McKnight, 
McCraney, Vineyard, and Baird. 

The president of the council, on the 31st day of October, 1836, laid before 
that body "the great seal of Wisconsin Territory." The seal was two and a 
half inches in diameter, and upon the scroll surmounting the seal were the 
words, "Great Saal of Wisconsin." A miner's arm projected from the left, 
grasping a pick, and suspending it over a pile of ore. Under the base-line 
were the words, "Fourth of July, Anno Domino 1836." 

The United States census of 1830 shows a population of three thousand 
two hundred and forty-five in the counties of Brown, Crawford, and Iowa, then 
constituting that portion of Michigan which is now a portion of the state of 
Wisconsin. The following table, by counties, gives the population of each 
county in the territory from 1830 to 1845, inclusive, as estimated by mem- 
bers of the legislature, 1846 : 

Counties. 1830. 1836. 1838, 1840. 1842. 1845. 

Brown 964 2,706 3,048 2,107 2,146 2,500 

Calumet 275 407 800 

Chippewa 800 

Crawford 692 854 1,220 1,502 i,449 3,000 

Dane 172 314 776 4,500 

Dodge 18 67 149 5,000 

Fond du Lac 139 295 1,800 

Grant 2,763 3 926 5,937 10,000 

Green 494 933 1,594 5,000 

Iowa 1,589 5,234 3,218 3,978 5,029 10,000 

Jefferson 468 914 1,638 5,000 

La Toinle 1,500 

Manitowoc 2^1; 26^ 600 



26o HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

Counties. 1830. 1836. 183! 
Marquette 



1840. 


1842. 


1845. 


18 


59 


600 


5.605 


9.565 


25,000 


1,623 


646 


2,000 


3.475 


6,318 


12,000 
100 


1,701 


2,867 


7,000 


102 


303 


1,100 


133 


221 


1,200 


809 


1,200 


1,500 


2,611 


4,618 


10,000 


343 


965 


5.500 


135 


143 


500 



Milwaukee 2,893 3.13' 

Portage 

Racine 2,054 

Richland 

Rock 4S0 

Sauk 

Sheboygan 

St. Croix 

Walworth 1,019 

Washington 64 

Winnebago* 

3,245 11,686 18,149 30,945 46,678 117,000 
As early as 1842, the population of Milwaukee county was nearly one- 
fourth of the whole number in the territory. 

In 1840, the population of the territory was scheduled as follows: 

Number of males 18,757 

Number of females 1 1 j 99 1 

Number of free colored persons 185 

Number of slaves 11 

Number of deaf and dumb 5 

Number of blind 9 

Number of insane and idiots 13 

Employed in agriculture 7)047 

Employed in mining 794 

Employed in commerce 479 

Employed in manufactures and trades.. ij8i4 

Employed in the learned professions 259 

Number of white persons, over twenty years of age, who could not read 

or write i>7oi 

Scholars in common schools , Ij937 

The Territory of Wisconsin was now beginning to take rank with the west- 
ern states and territories, as the following table of the products of Wisconsin, 
during the year of 1839, shows, as exhibited by the United States census of 1S40 : 

Pounds of lead produced 15,129,350 

Pounds of wool 6,777 

Pounds of wax i.474 

Pounds of hops 133 

Pounds of tobacco 115 

*This table is from Lapham's Wisconsin, Second Edition, 39. 



TERRITORIAL DAYS. 261 

Pounds of silk cocoons 

Pounds of maple-sugar 135,288 

Pounds of soap 64, 3 1 7 

Pounds of tallow candles 12 ,909 

Value of produce of quarries $968 

Value of poultry $ 16,167 

Value of dairy produce $ 35,677 

Value of orchard produce $ 37 

Value of home-made or family goods $ 12,567 

Value of produce of market gardens $ 3,106 

Value of produce nurseries $ 1,025 

Value of lumber produced $ 202 , 239 

Value of skins and furs $ 120,776 

Number of horses and mules 5,735 

Number of neat cattle : . . . 30, 269 

Number of sheep 3,462 

Number of swine 5 1 ,383 

Bushels of wheat 212,116 

Bushels of barley 11 ,062 

Bushels of oats 406 ,514 

Bushels of buckwheat 10,654 

Bushels of Indian corn 379,359 

Bushels of potatoes 419, 608 

Tons ofhay produced 30,938 

Cords of wood sold 22,910 

Barrels of pickled fish 9,021 

This census also shows that there were: 

Stores and groceries 178 

Lumber-yards 14 

Tannery i 

Distilleries 3 

Breweries 3 

Printing-offices 6 

Flouring-mills 4 

Grist-mills 29 

Saw-mills 124 

The large number of saw-mills in operation at this early period, many of 
which were operated day and night, was indicative of the future prosperity of 
the state. During the fall and spring of each year these numerous mills were 

unable to supply the growing demand for lumber. The growth of our agricult- 
ural interests during the next four years is surprisingly great. 



262 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

The estimate of the products of Wisconsin, during the year of 1842, was 
as follows : 

Wheat 728,000 bushels. Barley 17,000 bushels. 

Oats 1,000,000 " Rye 4,000 " 

Buckwheat 23,000 " Indian corn 570,000 " 

Potatoes 853,000 " Hay 67,000 tons. 

Sugar 216,000 pounds. 

The value of taxable property in the territory, in 1845, '^^^ estimated as 
follows: 

Milwaukee $1,652,201 00 

Racine 1,323,629 73 

Walworth 1,294,573 00 

Grant 754,32? 00 

Rock 618,084 2& 

Iowa 611,688 25 

Dane 420,194 25 

Jefferson 416,419 19 

Washington 394,610 00 

Brown 309,764 48 

Green 288,854 96 

Crawford 271,982 00 

Portage , 1 90,9 78 69 

Dodge 1 74> 900 69 

Fond du Lac i49>387 54- 

Manitowoc 127,549 16 

Sheboygan 117,27147 

Calumet 106,3 19 9& 

Sauk 49,864 66 

Marquette 36,971 oa 

Winnebago 14,834 50 



Total $9,324,305 83 

In the territorial days, the Fox river at Green Bay, extending, as it does, 
nearly half across the state, and reaching almost to the portage, was one of 
the most important rivers in the territory. For better information we give the 
distances along this historic water-course, from its mouth to the portage. 

From the mouth of Fox river to Rapides des Peres 7 miles 

Rapides des Peres to Little Kakalin 5 miles 

Little Kakalin to Rapide de Croche 7 miles 

Rapide de Croche to Grand Kakalin 4 miles 

Grand KakaUn to Little Chute 4 miles 



TERRITORIAL DAYS. 263 

Little Chute to Grand Chute 5 miles 

Grand Chute to Winnebago Rapids 7 miles 

"Winnebago Rapids to Oshkosh (through Lake Winnebago) 15 miles 

Oshkosh to Great Butte des Morts lake 4 miles 

Through Great Butte des Morts lake 4 miles 

Great Butte des Morts lake to mouth of Wolf river 3 miles 

Wolf river to Lake Puckawa 47 miles 

Lake Puckawa through this lake 6 miles 

Lake Puckawa to Buffalo lake Smiles 

Through Buffalo lake 11 miles 

Buffalo lake to portage 21 miles 

Total 158 miles 




Chapter XXXIL 



TERRITORIAL GOVERNMENT — TERRITORIAL OFFICERS OF 

WISCONSIN. 



GOVERNORS. 



Henry Dodge, 
James Duane Doty, 
Nathaniel P. Tallmadge, 
Henry Dodge, - 



John S. Horner, 
Wilham B. Slaughter, 
Francis J. Dunn, 
A. P. Field, 
George R. C. Floyd, 
John Catlin, 

Charles Dunn, C. J., 
William C. Frazer, A. J., 
David Irvin, A. J., - 
Andrew G. Miller, A. J., 

Henry S. Baird, 
Horatio N. Wells, 
Mortimer M. Jackson, 
William Pitt Lynde, 
A. Hyatt Smith, - 

John Catlin, 
Simeon Mills, - 
La Fayette Kellogg, 



from July 4, 1836, to Oct. 5, 
from Oct. 5, 1841, to Sept. 16, 
from Sept. 16, 1844, to May 13, 
from May 13, 1845, ^o June 7, 



SECRETARIES. 

appointed by Andrew Jackson, 
appointed by Andrew Jackson, 
appointed by Martin Van Buren, 
appointed by John Tyler, 
appointed by James K. Polk, 
appointed by James K. Polk, 

SUPREME COURT. 

appointed by Andrew Jackson, 
appointed by Andrew Jackson, - 
appointed by Andrew Jackson, 
appointed by Martin Van Buren, 

ATTORNEYS GENERAL. 

appointed by Governor Dodge, 
appointed by Governor Dodge, 
appointed by Governor Dodge, 
appointed by Governor Tallmadge, 

- appointed by Governor Dodge, 

CLERKS OF THE COURT. 

- appointed at December Term, 
appointed at July Term, 
appointed at July Term, 

UNITED STATES DISTRICT ATTORNEYS. 



William W. Chapman, 
Moses M. Strong, 
Thomas W. Sutherland, 
William Pitt Lynde, 



appointed by Andrew Jackson, ■ 
appointed by Martin Van Buren, 
appointed by John Tyler, 
appointed by James K. Polk, 



May 6, 
Feb. 16, 
Jan. 25, 
Apr. 23, 
Oct. ^o, 
Feb. 24, 

Aug. 

- July 

Sept. 

- Nov. 



Dec. 7, 
Mar. 30, 
Jan. 26, 
Feb. 22, 
Aug. 4, 



841 

844 

845 
848 

836 

837 
841 
841 

843 
846 

836 
836 
836 



836 

S39 
842 

845 
845 

836 

839 
840 



836 
838 
841 
845 



Territorial government from October 25, 1836, to the 13th of March, 1848. 



TKRRITORIAL DAYS. ^65 

FIRST LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY. 
Convened at Belmont, Iowa county, October 25, 1836. 

COUNCIL. 

President — Henry S. Baird, of Brown. Secretary — Edward McSherry. Ser- 

geant-at-Arms — William Henry . 
Brolun — Henry S. Baird, John P. Arndt. 

Jowa — Ebenezer Brigham, John B. Terry, James R. Vineyard. 
Dubuque — Thomas McCraney, John Foley, Thomas McKnight. 
Crmvford — [Had no member of the Council.*] 
Milwaukee — Alanson Sweet, Gilbert Knapp. 
Des Moities — Jeremiah Smith, Jr., Joseph B. Teas, Arthur B. Ingraham. 

REPRESENTATIVES. 

Speaker — Peter Hill Engle, of Dubuque. Chief Clerk — Warren Lewis. Ser- 
geaiit-at-Anns — Jesse M. Harrison. 

Des Moines — Isaac Leffler, Thomas Blair, John Box, George W. Teas, David 
R. Chance, Warren L. Jenkins, Eli Reynolds. 

Cra7uford — James H. Lock wood, James B. Dallam. 

Mihuaukce — William B. Sheldon, Madison W. Cornwall, Charles Durkee. 

Iowa — William Boyles, George F. Smith, Daniel M. Parkison, Thomas Mc- 
Knight, Thomas Shanley, James P. Cox. 

Dubuque — Loring Wheeler, Hardin Nowhn, Hosea T. Camp, Peter Hill Engle, 
Patrick Quigley. 

Brown — Ebenezer Childs, Albert G. Ellis, Alexander J. Irwin. f 

SECOND SESSION, 1837-1838. 

Convened at fJurUngton, Des Moines county, Nov. 6, 1837, and ad- 
journed Jan. 20, 1838. 

COUNCIL. 

President — Arthur B. Ingraham, of Des Moines. Secretary — George Beatty. 

Sergeant-at-Arnis — Levi Sterling. 
Brown — John P. Arndt, Joseph Dickinson. | 
Iowa — Ebenezer Brigham, John H. Terry, James R. Vineyard. 
Milwaukee — Alanson Sweet, Gilbert Knapp. 
Dubuque — John Foley, Thomas McKnight, Thomas McCraney. 
Des Moines — Jeremiah Smith, Jr., Joseph B. Teas, Arthur B. Ingraham. 
Crawford — [Had no member of the Council.] 

* Thomas P. Burnett claimed a seat, but was rejected by a vote of the Council, as the 
appointment of members belonged exclusively to the Executive of the Territory. 

t Seat successfully contested by George McWilliams. 

X In place of Henry S. Baird, resigned. Mr. Dickinson's seat was contested and vacated; 
replaced by Alexander J. Irwin. 



266 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 



REPRESENTATIVES. 



Speaker — Isaac Leffler, of Des Moines. Chief Clerk — John Catlin. Sergeant- 

at-Arms — William M organ . 
Broivn — Ebenezer Childs, George McWilliams, Charles C. Sholes. 
lotua — William Boyles, Thomas McKnight, Thomas Shanley, James P. Cox, 

George F. Smith, Daniel M. Parkison. 
Craivford — Ira B. Brunson,* Jean Brunet.t 
Des Moines — Isaac Leffler, Thomas Blair, John Box, George W. Teas, David 

R. Chance, Warren L. Jenkins, John Reynolds. 
Dubuque — Peter Hill Engle, Patrick Quigley,| Loring Wheeler, Hardin Nowlin, 

Alexander McGregor. § 
Milwaukee — William R. Sheldon, Charles Durkee, Madison W. Cornwall. 

SPECIAL SESSION, 1838. 

Convened at Burlington, Des Moines county, June ii, 1838, and ad- 
journed June 25, 1838. 

COUNCIL. 

President — Arthur B. Ingraham, of Des Moines. Secretary — George Beatty. 
Sergeant-at-Arms — George W. Harris. 
(Officers elected by resolution.) 
Brown — Alexander J. Irwin, John P. Arndt. 
Lnna — Ebenezer Brigham, John B. Terry, James R. Vineyard. 
Milwaukee — Gilbert Knapp, Alanson Sweet. 
Dubuque — John Foley, Thomas McCraney, Thomas McKnight. 
Des Moines — Arthur B. Ingraham, Joseph B. Teas, Jeremiah Smith, Jr. 
Cratvford — [Had no member of the Council.] 

REPRESENTATIVES. 

Speaker — William B. Sheldon, of Milwaukee. Chief Clerk — John Catlin. 

Sergeatit-at-Anns — William Morgan. 
Broivn — George McWilliams, Charles C. Sholes, Ebenezer Childs. 
Joiva — William Boyles, Thomas McKnight, Daniel M. Parkison, Thomas 

Shanley, James P. Cox, James Collins. |1 
Milwaukee — Wm. B. Sheldon, Charles Durkee, Madison W. Cornwall. 

* In place of James B. Dallam. 

t In place of James H. Lockwood. 

X Mr. Quigley resigned his seat on the 17th of January, 1838, for cause arising out oi 
McGregor's case, wherein he felt his dignity as a member overlooked and unsupported by 
the House. 

§ Mr. McGregor was elected in place of Hosea T. Camp, deceased. Was charged with 
having accepted a bribe at this session, and resigned his seat while the investigation was 
pending; but by a resolution of the House, at its June session, he was declared " unworthy 
of confidence," by a vote of the House. 

II In place of George F. Smith, resigned. 



TERRITORIAL DAYS. 267 

Dubuque — Peter Hill Engle, Hardin Nowlin, Patrick Quigley, Lucius H. 

Langworthy,* Loring Wheeler. 
Des Moines — Isaac Leffler, Warren L. Jenkins, Thomas Blair, John Reynolds 

George W. Teas, John Box, David R. Chance. 
Crawford — Ira B. Branson, Jean Brunei. 



SECOND LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY. 

FIRST SESSION, 1838. 

Convened at Madison, November 26, 1838, and adjourned December 22, 
1838. 

COUNCIL. 

President — William BuUen, of Racine. Secretary — George Beatty. Sergeant- 

at'Arms — Stephen N. Ives. 
Iowa — James Collins, Levi Sterling. 
Grant — James R. Vineyard, John H. Rountree. 
Rock and Wahvorth — James Maxwell. 

Milwaukee and Washington — Daniel Wells, Jr., William A. Prentiss. 
Dane, Dodge, Green and jf^ejferson — Ebenezer Brigham. 
Racine — William Bullen, Marshall M. Strong. 
Brown — Alexander J. Irwin, Morgan L. Martin. 
Crawford — George Wilson. 

REPRESENTATIVES. 

Speaker — John W. Blackstone, of Iowa. Chief Clerk — ^John Cathn. Sergeant- 
at-Arnis — Thomas Morgan. 

Brown — Ebenezer Childs, Charles C. Sholes, Barlow Shackleford, Jacob AV. 
Conroe. 

Racine — Orrin R. Stevens, Zadoc Newman, Tristam C. Hoyt. 

Crawford — Alexander McGregor. 

Grant — Thomas Cruson, Nelson Dewey, Raph Carver, Joseph H. D. Street. 

Dane^ Dodge, Green and J^efferson — Daniel S. Sutherland. 

Rock and Wahoorth — Othni Beardsley, Edward V. Whiton. 

Milwaukee and Washington — Lucius I. Barber, William Shew, Henry C. Skin- 
ner, Ezekiel Churchill, Augustus Story. 

Joiva — Russell Baldwin, John W. Blackstone, Henry M. Billings, Thomas 
Jenkms. 

SECOND SpSSION, 1839. 

Convened at Madison, January 21, 1839, and adjourned March 11, 1839. 

* In place of A. McGregor, resigned. 



268 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

COUNCIL. 

President — James Collins, of Iowa. Secretary — George Beatty. Sergeant-at- 

Anns — Stephen N. Ives. 
Brown — Morgan L. Martin, Alexander J. Irwin. 
Racine — William Bullen, Marshall M. Strong. 
Rock and Wahvorth — James Maxwell. 
Grant — James R. Vineyard, John H. Rountree, 
Milwaukee and Washington — Daniel Wells, Jr., William A. Prentiss. 
Dane, Dodge, Green and Jefferson — Ebenezer Brigham. 
Iowa — James Collins, Levi Sterling. 
Crawford — George Wilson. 

REPRESENTATIVES. 

Speaker — Lucius I. Barber, of Milwaukee. Chief Clerk — John Catlin. Ser- 
geant-at-Arms — Thomas J. Moorman. 

Brotiui — Ebenezer Childs, Charles C. Sholes, Barlow Shackleford, Jacob W. 
Conroe. 

Milwaukee and Washington — Lucius I. Barber, William Shew, Henry C. Skin- 
ner, Ezekiel Churchill, Augustus Story. 

Racine — Tristam C. Hoyt, Orrin R. Stevens, Zadoc Newman. 

Grant — Thomas Cruson, Nelson Dewey, Ralph Carver, Joseph H. D. Street. 

Dane, Dodge, Green and Jefferson — Daniel S. Sutherland. 

Crazvford — Alexander McGregor, Ira B. Brunson. 

Rock and Wahvorth — Edward V. Whiton, Othni Beardsley. 

Iowa — Russell Baldwin, John W. Blackstone, Thomas Jenkins, Henry M. 
Billings, Charles Bracken. 

THIRD SESSION, 1839-4O. 

Convened at Madison, December 2, 1839, and adjourned January 13, 1840. 

COUNCIL. 

President — James Collins, of Iowa. Secretary — George Beatty. Sergeant-at- 

Arnis — Thomas J. Noyes. 
Brown — Morgan L. Martin, Charles C. P. Arndt. 
Racine — William Bullen, Lorenzo Janes.* 
Rock and Wahvorth — James Maxwell. 

Milwaukee and Washington — William A. Prentiss, Daniel Wells, Jr. 
Grant — James R. Vineyard, John H. Rountree, 
Dane, Dodge, Green and 'Jefferson — Ebenezer Brigham. 
Io7va — James Collins, Levi Sterling. 
Crazvford — Joseph Brisbois.t 

* In place of Marshall M. Strong, resigned, 
t In place of Geo. Wilson, resigned. 



TERRITORIAL DAYS. 269 

REPRESENTATIVES. 

Speaker — Edward V. \Miiton, of Rock. Chief Clerk — John Catlin, Ser- 

geant-at-Arms — James Durley. 
Brown — Ebenezer Childs, Jacob W. Conroe, Charles C. Sholes, Barlow 

Shackleford. 
Milwaukee ajid IVashingtofi — Augustus Story, Adam E. Ray, William R. 

Longstreet, William Shew, Horatio N. Wells, 
^ock and Walworth — Othni Beardsley, Edward V. Whiton. 
Dane, Dodge, Green and 'Jefferson — Daniel S. Sutherland. 
Iowa — Russell Baldwin, Charles Bracken, Henry M. Billings, Thomas Jenkins, 

John W. Blackstone. 
Grant — Thomas Cruson, Joseph H. D. Street, Nelson Dewey, Jonathan 

Craig. 
Crawford — Ira B. Brunson, Alexander McGregor. 
Racine — Orrin R. Stevens, Zadoc Newman, Tristam C. Hoyt. 

FOURTH (extra) SESSION, 1840. 

Convened at Madison, August 3, 1840, and adjourned August 14, 1840. 

COUNCIL. 

President — William A. Prentiss, of Milwaukee. Secretary — George Beatty. 

Sergeant-at-Arms — Gilbert Knapp . 
Broii'n — Morgan L. Martin, Charles C. P. Arndt. 
Racine — William BuUen, Lorenzo Janes. 
Rock and Walworth — James Maxwell. 

Milwaukee and Washington — William A. Prentiss, Daniel Wells, Jr. 
Grant — James R. Vineyard, John H. Rountree. 
Dane, Dodge, Greefi and Jefferson — Ebenezer Brigham. 
Iowa — Levi Sterling, James Collins. 
Crawford — Charles J. Learned.* 

REPRESENTATIVES. 

Speaker — Nelson Dewey, of Grant. Chief Clerk — John Catlin. Sergeant-at- 
Arms — D. M.Whitney. 
Brown — Ebenezer Childs, Barlow Shackleford, Charles C. Sholes, Jacob W. 

Conroe. 
Milwaukee and Washington — Adam E. Ray, William Shew, Horatio N. W^ells, 

Augustus Story, William R. Longstreet. 
Rock and Walworth — Othni Beardsley, Edward V. Whiton. 
Dane, Dodge, Green and y^ejferson — Daniel S. Sutherland. 

* In place of Joseph Brisbois, resigned. 



270 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

Iowa — Russell Baldwin, Charles Bracken, Henry M. Billings, Thomas Jenkins, 

John W. Blackstone, 
Gra?it — Thomas Cruson, Joseph H. D. Street, Nelson Dewey, Jonathan Craig. 
Crawford — Ira B. Brunson, Alexander McGregor. 
Racifie — Orrin R. Stevens, Zadoc Newman, Tristam C. Hoyt. 

THIRD LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY. 

FIRST SESSION, 184O-41. 

Convened at Madison, December 7, 1840, and adjourned February 19, 1841. 

COUNCIL. 

Fresideni — James Maxwell, of Walworth. Secretary — George Beatty. Ser- 

geaut-af-Arms— Miles M. Vineyard. 
Brown, Fond du Lac, Manitowoc and Sheboygan — Charles C. P. Arndt, 

Morgan L. Martin. 
Mihi'aukee and JVashington — Jonathan E. Arnold, Don A. J. Upham. 
Racine — William Bullen, Lorenzo Janes. 
Rock and Walworth — James Maxwell. 
Dane, Dodge, Green and Jefferson — Ebenezer Brigham. 
lotua — Levi Sterhng, James Collins. 
Grant — John H. Rountree, James R. Vineyard. 
Craivford and St. Croix — Charles J. Learned. 

REPRESENTATIVES. 

Speaker — David Newland, of Iowa. Chief Clerk — John Catlin. Sergeant- 

at-Arms — Francis M. Rublee. 
Racijie — George Batchelder, Thomas E. Parmelee, Reuben H. Deming. 
Rock and Walworth — John Hackett, Hugh Long, Jesse C. Mills, Edward V. 

Whiton. 
Dane, Dodge, Green and Jefferson — Lucius I. Barber, James Sutherland. 
Brown, Fond du Lac, Manitowoc and Sheboygan — William H. Bruce,* Mason 

C. Darling, David Giddings. 
Milwaukee and JVashington — Joseph Bond, Jacob Brazelton, Adam E. Ray, 

John S. Rockwell, William F. Shephard. 
Iowa — Francis J. Dunn, Ephraim F. Ogden, Daniel M. Parkison, David 

Newland. 
Grant — Daniel R. Burt, Nelson Dewey, Neely Gray. 
Crawford and St. Croix — Alfred Brunson, t Joseph R. Brown. 

* Seat successfully contested by Albert G. Ellis. 

t Seat contested by Theophilus La Chappelle, and Joseph R. Brown appointed com- 
missioner to take testimony and report. 



TERRITORIAL DAYS. 271 

SECOND SESSION, 1841-2. 

Convened at Madison, December 6, 1841, and adjourned February 19, 1842. 

COUNCIL. 

President — James Collins, of Iowa. Secretary — George Beatty. Sergeant-at- 

Arms — Ebenezer Childs. 
Brown, Fo7id du Lac, Manitowoc, Portage and Sheboygan — Morgan L. Martin, 

Charles C. P. Arndt.* 
Milwaukee and Washington — John H. Tweedy, t Don A. J. Upham. 
Racine — William Bullen, Lorenzo Janes. 
Rock and Walworth — James Maxwell. 

Dane, Dodge, Green, Jefferson and Sauk — Ebenezer Brigham. 
Iowa — James Collins, Moses M. Strong. 
Grant — John H. Rountree, James R. Vineyard. | 
Crawford and St. Croix — Charles J. Learned. 

REPRESENTATIVES. 

Speaker — David Newland, of Iowa. Chief Clerk — John Catlin. Sergeant-at- 
Arnis — Thomas J. Moorman. 

Brown, Fond du Lac, Manitowoc, Portage and Sheboygan — Mason C. Darling, 
Albert G. Ellis, David Giddings. 

Racine — George Batchelder, Jonathan Eastman, Thomas E. Parmelee.§ 

Craiiford and St. Croix — Joseph R. Brown, Alfred Brunson.|| 

Milwaukee and Washington — Joseph Bond, Adam E. Ray, William F. Shep- 
hard, John S. Rockwell, Jacob Brazelton. 

Rock and Walworth — John Hackett, Jesse C. Mills, Edward V. Whiton, 
James Tripp. ^ 

loiua — Thomas Jenkins,** David Newland, Ephraim F. Ogden, Daniel M. 
Parkison. 

Grant — Daniel R. Burt, Neely Gray, Nelson Dewey. 

Dane, Dodge, Green, yefferson and Sauk — Lucius I. Barber, James Suther- 
land. 

* Killed by James R, Vineyard, Feb. 11, 1842. 

t In place of Jonathan E. Arnold, resigned. 

+ Resignation sent to council, Feb. 14, which was refused to be accepted, and a vote ex- 
pelling him from the council was passed. 

^ Elisha S. Sill claimed a seat as an additional member, but was not admitted. Mr. 
Parmelec afterwards resigned. 

II Seat contested and awarded to Theophilus La Chappelle. 

^ In place of Hugh Long, resigned. 

** In place of Francis J. Dunn, resigned. 



272 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

FOURTH LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY. 

FIRST SESSION, 1842-43. 

The two houses organized on the 5th of December, 1842, but the gov- 
ernor (J. D. Doty) refused to communicate with them, as a body legally 
assembled, according to the act of congress, as no appropriation for that 
object had been previously made by congress. The houses continued in ses- 
sion until the loth day of December, when they adjourned until the 30th of 
January, 1S43, when they again met, and continued in session until February, 
1843, when they adjourned until March 6, 1843, on which latter day they 
again convened, as well in pursuance of their vote of adjournment, as in pur- 
suance of the governor's proclamation calling them together as of a special 
session, on that day. Of this intention of the governor, they had been ap- 
prised by resolutions referring to his proclamation, introduced by one of their 
members at their first session. The houses continued in session subsequently 
until the 25th day of March, when they adjourned without day. Both 
houses again assembled on the 27th day of March, as of the second session, 
and adjourned on the 17th of April, 1843. The session was held at Madison. 
Officers the same in both sessions. 

COUNCIL. 

President — Moses M. Strong, of Iowa [resigned March i8th, and Morgan L. 
Martin, of Brown, elected to fill vacancy] . Secretary — John V. Ingersol 
[Mr. Ingersol resigned March 31, 1843, and John P. Sheldon appointed 
for balance of the session]. Sergcant-at-Arms — Charles C. Brown. 

Brown, Calumet, Fond da Lac, Majiitowoc, Marquette, Portage, Sheboygan 
and Winnebago — Morgan L. Martin. 

Racine — Consider Heath,* Peter D. Hugunin.* 

Rock and Walworth — Charles M. Baker, Edward V. Whiton. 

Dane, Dodge, Green, Jefferson and Sauk — Lucius I. Barber. 

Grant — John H. Rountree, Nelson Dewey. 

Milwaukee and Washington — Hans Crocker, Lemuel White, David Newland. 

Iowa — Moses M. Strong. 

Crawford and St. Croix — Theoph. La Chapelle. 

REPRESENTATIVES. 

Speaker — Albert G. Ellis, of Portage. Chief Clerk — John Catlin. Sergeant- 

at-Arnis — William S. Anderson. 
Broivn, Calumet, Fond du Lac, Manitotvoc, Marquette, Portage, Sheboyga?i and 

Winnehago — Albert G. Ellis, Mason C. Darling, David Agry. 
Walworth cmd Rock — John Hopkins, James Tripp, John M. Capron, Wm. A. 

Bartiett. 



TERRITORIAL DAYS. 273 

Milwaukee afid Washington — Andrew E. Elmore, Benjamin Hunkins, Thomas 
H. Olin, Jonathan Parsons, Jared Thompson, George H. Walker. 

Iowa — Robert M. Long, Moses Meeker, William S. Hamilton. 

Crawford and Si. Croix — John H. Manahan. 

Dane, Dodge, Green, Jefferson and Sauk — Isaac H. Palmer, Lyman Grossman, 
Robert Masters. 

Racine — Philander Judson, John T. Trowbridge, Peter Van Vliet. 

Grant — Franklin Z. Hicks, Alonzo Piatt, Glendower M. Price. 

SECOND SESSION, 1843-4. 

Gonvenedat Madison, December 4, 1843, and adjourned January 31, 1844, 

COUNCIL. 

President — Marshall M. Strong, of Racine. Secretary — Benjamin G. East- 
man. Sergeant-at-Arms — G. G. S. Vail. 
Brotvn, Calumet, Fond du Lac, Manitowoc, Marquette, Portage, Sheboygan and 

JVinfiebago — Morgan L. Martin. 
Pock and IValworth — Gharles M. Baker, Edward V. Whiton. 
Milwaukee and Washington — Lemuel White, Hans Grocker, David Newland, 
Io7va — Moses M. Strong. 

Crawford and St. Croix — Theoph. La Ghappelle. 
Grant — John H. Rountree, Nelson Dewey. 
Racine — Michael Frank, Marshall M. Strong. 
Dane, Dodge, Green, Jefferson and Sauk — Lucius I. Barber. 

REPRESENTATIVES. 

Speaker — George H. Walker, of Milwaukee. Chief Clerk — John Gatlin. 

Sergeatit-at-Arnis — J. W. Trowbridge. 
Brown, Calumet, Fond du Lac, Manitowoc , Marquette, Portage, Sheboyga?i 

and Winnebago — Albert G. Ellis, David Agry, Mason G. Darling. 
Crawford and St. Croix — John H. Manahan. 
Iowa — Moses Meeker, George Messersmith, Robert M. Long. 
.Milwaukee and Washington — Andrew E, Elmore, Benjamin Hunkins, Thomas 

H. Olin, Jonathan Parsons, Jared Thompson, George H. Walker. 
Dane, Dodge, Green, Jefferson and Sauk — Robert Masters, Lyman Grossman, 

Isaac H. Palmer. 
Rock and JValworth — John M. Gapron, ^^Mlliam A. Bartlett, John Hopkins, 

James Tripp. 
Grant — Alonzo Piatt, Glendower M. Price, Franklin Z. Hicks. 
Racine — John T. Trowbridge, Levi Grant, Ezra Birchard. 



274 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

THIRD SESSION, 1845. 

Convened at Madison, January 6th, 1845, and adjourned February 24, 1845, 

COUNCIL. 

President — Moses M. Strong, of Iowa. Secretary — Benjamin C. Eastman. 

Sergcaiit-at-Arms — Charles H. Larkin. 
Broivn, Calumet, Fond du Lac, Manitotuoc, Marquette , Portage, Sheboygan and 

Winnebago — Randall Wilcox. 
Grant — Nelson Dewey, John H. Rountree. 
Rock and Walworth — Charles M. Baker, Edward V. Whiton. 
Iowa — Moses M. Strong. 
Milwaukee and Washington — Adam E. Ray, James Kneeland, Jacob H. 

Kimball. 
Crawford and St. Croix — Wiram Knowlton. 
Racine — Michael Frank, Marshall M. Strong, 
Dane, Dodge, Green, Jefferson and Sauk — John Catlin. 

REPRESENTATIVES. 

Speaker — George H. Walker, of Milwaukee. Chief Clerk — La Fayatte Kel- 
logg. Sergeant-at-Ar?ns — Chauncy Davis. 
Brown, Calumet, Fond du Lac, Manitowoc, Marquette, Portage, Sheboygan and 

Winnebago — Mason C. Darling, Abraham Brawley, William Fowler.* 
Rock and Walworth — Stephen Field, Jesse C. Mills, Salmon Thomas, Jesse 

Moore. 
Cra7iford and St. Croix — James Fisher. 

Racine — Robert McClellan, Orson Sheldon, Albert G. Northway. 
Milwaukee and Washington — Charles E. Brown, Pitts Ellis, Byron Kilbourn, 

Benjamin H. Mooers, William Shew, George H. Walker. 
Dane, Dodge, Green, Jefferson and Sauk — Charles S. Bristol, Noah Phelps, 

George H. Slaughter. 
Iowa — James Collins, Robert C. Hoard, Solomon Oliver. 
Grant — Thomas P. Burnett, Thomas Cruson, Franklin Z. Hicks. 

FOURTH SESSION, 1846. 

Convened at Madison, January 5th, and adjourned February 3, 1846. 

COUNCIL, 

President — Nelson Dewey, of Grant. Secretary — Benjamin C. Eastman. t 
Sergeant-at-Ar /ns — Joseph Brisbois. 

* These councilmen did not take their seats until March 6, 1S43. 

* Brothertown Indian. 

t Mr. Eastman resigned Jan. 19, and Wm. R. Smith elected. 



i 



TERRITORIAL DAYS. 



-75 



Bronni, Calumet, Fond du Lac, Maniiowoc, Marquette, Portage, Sheboygan 

and ]]'innebago — Randall Wilcox. 
Crawford, Chippewa, St. Croix and La Pointe — Wiram Knowlton. 
Milwaukee and Washington — Curtis Reed, Jacob H. Kimball, James Kneeland. 
Joiua — Moses M. Strong. 
Grant — Nelson Dewey, John H. Rountree. 
Rock and /r^r/ftv;-///— Charles M. Baker, Edward V. Whiton. 
Racine — Michael Frank, Marshall M. Strong. 
Dane, Dodge, Green, J^efferson and Sauk — John Catlin. 

REPRESENTATIVES. 

Speaker — Mason C. Darling, of Fond du Lac. Chief Clerk — La Fayette 

Kellogg. Sergeant-at-Arms — David Bonham. 
Brown, Calumet, Fond du Lac, Manitowoc, Marquette, Portage, Sheboygaji 

and Winnebago — Abraham Brawley, Mason C. Darling, Elisha Morrow. 
Racine — Andrew B. Jackson, Orson Sheldon, Julius Wooster. 
Crawford, Chippetua, St. Croix and La Pointe — James Fisher. 
Grant — Armstead C. Brown, Thomas P. Burnett, Thomas Cruson. 
Walworth — Caleb Croswell, Warren Earl, Gay lord Graves. 
Dane, Dodge, Green, yefferson and Sauk — Mark R. Clapp, William M. 

Dennis, Noah Phelps. 
Milwaukee and JVashingtofi — Samuel H. Barstow, John Crawford, James 

Magone, Benjamin H. Mooers, Luther Parker, William H. Thomas. 
Iowa — Henry M. Billings, Robert C. Hoard, Charles Pole. 
Rock — Ira Jones. 

FIFTH LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY. 

FIRST SESSION, 1847. 

Convened at Madison, January 4, and adjourned February 11, 1847. 

COUNCIL. 

President — Horatio N. Wells, of Milwaukee. Secretary — Thomas McHugh. 

Sergeant-at-Arms — John Bevins. 
Brown, Columbia, Fond du Lac, Manitowoc, Marquette, Portage and Winne- 
bago — Mason C. Darling. 
Milwaukee — Horatio N. Wells. 
Racine — Frederick S. Lovell, Marshall M. Strong. 
Walworth — Henry Clark. 
Rock — Andrew Palmer. 
loiva and Richland — William Singer. 
Waukesha — Joseph Turner. 
Crawford — Benjamin F. Manahan. 



276 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

Grant — Orris McCartney. 

Dane, Green and Sank — Alexander L. Collins. 
Dodge and "yefferson — John E. Holmes. 
Washi7igton and Sheboygan — Chauncy M. Phelps. 

REPRESENTATIVES. 

Speaker — William Shew, of Milwaukee. Chief Clerk — La Fayette Kellogg. 
Sergeant-at-Arnis — E. R. Hugunin. 

Racine — Uriah Wood, Elisha Raymond. 

Walworth — Charles A. Bronson, Palmer Gardiner. 

Milwaukee — William Shew, Andrew Sullivan, WilHam W. Brown. 

Iowa and Richland — Timothy Burns, James D. Jenkins, Thomas Chilton. 

Grant — Armstead C. Brown, William Richardson. 

Dane, Green and Sauk — Charles Lum, William A. Wheeler, John W. 
Stewart. 

Sheboygan and Washington — Harrison C. Hobart. 

Dodge and yefferson — George W. Green, John T. Haight, James Giddings. 

Rock — Jared G. Winslow, James M. Burgess. 
Waukesha — Joseph Bond, Chauncey F. Heath. 

Crawford — Joseph W. Furber. 

Brown, Columbia, Fond du Lac, Manitowoc , Marquette, Portage and Winne- 
bago — Elisha Morrow, Hugh McFarlane. 

SPECIAL SESSION, 1847. 

Convened October i8, and adjourned October 27, 1847. 

COUNCIL. 

President — Horatio N. Wells, of Milwaukee. Secretary — Thomas McHagh. 

Sergeant-at-Arms — Edward P. Lockhart. 
Racine — Frederick S. Lovell, Philo W^hite. 
Rock — Andrew Palmer. 
Joiva, La Fayette and Richland — Ninian E. Whitesides. 

Washington and Sheboygan — Chauncy M. Phelps. 

Walworth — Henry Clark. 

Grant — Orris McCartney. 

Dane, Green and Sauk — Alexander L. Collins. 

Milwaukee — Horatio N. Wells. 

Waukesha — Joseph Turner. 

Jefferson and Dodge — John E. Holmes. 

Crawford^ St. Croix, Chippe-iva and La Pointe — Benjamin F. Manahan. 
Brown, Calumet, Columbia, Fond du Lac, Manitowoc, Marquette, Portage 
and Winnebago — Mason C. Darling. 



TERRITORIAL DAYS. 277 

REPRESENTATIVES. 

Speaker — Isaac P. Walker, of Milwaukee. Chief Clerk — La Fayette Kellogg. 

Sergeant-at-Arms — E. R. Hugunin. 
Racine — G. F. Newell, Dudley Cass. 
Wahoorth — Eleazer Wakely, George Walworth. 
Iowa, La Fayette and RicJilaud — Timothy Burns, M. M. Cothren, Charles 

Pole. 
Milwaukee — Isaac P. Walker, James Holliday, Asa Kinney. 
Grant — Xoah H. Virgin, Daniel R. Burt. 

Dane, Green and Sank — E. T. Gardner, Alexander Botkin, John W. Stewart. 
'yeffersoii and Dodge — Levi P. Drake, Horace D. Patch, James Hanrahan. 
Crawford, St. Croix, Chippeiua and La Pointe — Henry Jackson. 
Washington and Sheboygan — Benjamin H. Mooers. 
Waukesha — George Reed, L. Martin. 
Rock — Daniel C. Babcock, George H. Williston. 
firown, Calumet, Colutnbia, Fond du Lac, Afanitowoc, Marquette, Portage and 

Winnebago — Moses S. Gibson, G. W. Featherstonhaugh. 

SECOND SESSION, 1 848. 

Convened February 7, and adjourned March 13, 1848. 

COUNCIL. 

President — Horatio N. Wells, of Milwaukee. Secretary — Thomas McHugh. 

Sergeant-at-Arms — Edward P. Lockhart. 
Iowa, La Fayette and Richland — Ninian E. Whitesides. 
Waukesha — Joseph Turner. 
Dodge and Jefferson — John E. Holmes. 

Chippewa, Cranford, La Pointe and St. Croix — Benjamin F. Manahan. 
Racine — Frederick S. Lovell, Philo White. 
Walworth — Henry Clark. 
Rock — Andrew Palmer. 
Grant — Orris McCartney. 

Dane, Green and Sauk — Alexander L. Collins. 
Milwaukee — Horatio N. Wells. 
Sheboygati and Washington — Chauncy M. Phelps. 

BrowJi, Calumet, Columbia, Fond du Lac, Manitowoc, Marquette, Portage and 
Winnebago — Mason C. Darling. 

REPRESENTATIVES. 

Speaker — Timothy Burns, of Iowa. Chief Clerk — La Fayette Kellogg. 

Sergeant-at-Arms — John Mullanphy. 
Iowa, La Fayette and Richland — Timothy Burns, Charles Pole, M. M. 
Cothren. 



278 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

Grant — Noah H. Virgin, Daniel R. Burt. 

Sheboygan and Washington — Benj. H. Mooers.* 

Dane, Green and Sank — E. T. Gardner, John W. Stewart, Alexander Botkin. 

£rown, Calumet, Columbia, Fond du Lac, Maiiitowoc , Marquette, Portage and 

Winnebago — G. W. Featherstonhaugh, Moses S. Gibson. 
Racine — G. F. Newell, Dudley Cass. 
Walworth — Eleazer Wakely, George Walworth. 
Rock — Daniel C. Babcock, George H. Williston. 
Milwaukee — Isaac P. Walker, James Holliday, Asa Kinney. 
WaJikesha — George Reed, Leonard Martin. 

Dodge and Jefferson — Levi P. Drake, Horace D. Patch, James Hanrahan» 
Chippeiva, Crawford, La Pointe and St. Croix — Henry Jackson. 

* Resigned his seat because a bill in relation lo Washington county was rejected. 



Chapter XXXIII. 

WISCONSIN'S TERRITORIAL GOVERNORS.— 1836-1848. 
Administrations of Governor Henry Dodge. 1836 — 1841. 1845 — 1848. 

General Henry Dodoe, upon the creation of the Territory of Wiscon- 
sin in 1836, Avas appointed its first governor and superintendent of Indian 
affairs by President Jackson. General Dodge, on the 4th day of July, 1836, at 
a "grand independent celebration" at Mineral Point, solemnly subscribed to 
the oath of office in the presence of a large assemblage. This was the most 
Democratic inauguration ever held in ^Visconsin. 

On March 4, 1841, the Whigs having come into power under Wm. H. 
Harrison and John Tyler, Governor Dodge was removed from office, to make 
room for James Duane Doty. Upon Governor Dodge's removal in 1841, he 
was made the Democratic nominee for delegate to congress, and was elected 
over Jonathan E. Arnold, of Milwaukee; he was re-electxl delegate in 1843, 
over General Hicox. 

In March, 1845, the Democrats, under James K. Polk, having assumed 
national control. General Dodge was appointed governor of the territory, 
and in this capacity continued to serve until Wisconsin was admitted into the 
union in 1848. 

The new state legislature met in June, 1848, and elected Governor 
Dodge and Isaac P. Walker to the United States senate. The senators drew 
lots for the long and short terms, which resulted in Governor Dodge drawing 
the former. In 185 1, he was re-elected United States senator for the term 
ending on the 4th of March, 1857. This closed the public career of General 
Henry Dodge. 

While it is conceded by all that an immense amount of bragging and false- 
hood has crept into the poj:>ular accounts and histories of the Black Hawk war, 
yet General Dodge rendered valuable service by terrorizing the Winnebagoes. 
(ieneral Dodge also took part in the engagements at Wisconsin Heights and 
Bad Ax, having led charges in both battles. 

The various administrations of General Dodge were both wise and judi- 
cious. His messages were clear and comprehensive. He desired that the 
general government, through congress, take steps to clear the Rock river of 
its obstructions. He also recommended the propriety of asking congress to 
donate one township of land to be sold, and the proceeds of the sale to be 
used for the establishment of an academy for the education of the youth. 
This recommendation embodied the principle of the plan on which universities 

279 



j8o 



HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 



were established in Wisconsin and other states by land grants from congress.* 
General Henry Dodge was born at Vincennes, Indiana, on October 12, 1782, 
and during the early Indian disturbances in that state. He was named after 
Moses Henry, who rescued him from the hands of an Indian who was about 
to dash his brains out. 

The general died at the home of his son, Augustus C. Dodge, in Burling- 
ton, Iowa, on June 19, 1869. His last years were principally passed at 
Mineral Point, among his numerous friends, and were a contrast to the priva- 
tions, warfare and stormy activity of his frontier life, which was passed in the 
heart of the Indian country. Well may he be called "The Father of 
Wisconsin, "t 



* The legislature of Wisconsin, of 1870, appropriated $1,000 for Nowell's marble 
bust of Governor Dodge, which stands in the capitol at Madison. 
t Maybelle Park, in ''Distinguished Citizens of Wisconsin." 




Chapter XXXIV. 



1841 — 1844. 

Administration of Governor James Duane Doty. 

James Duane Doty, Wisconsin's second governor, was one of our most 
able statesmen. He was born at Salem, Washington county. New York, on 
November 5, 1799. After he had completed a thorough English course of 
study he read law, and, before he was twenty years of age, had settled in De- 
troit, where his suave manners, ability 
and commanding presence made him ex- 
ceptionally popular. As early as 18 19, 
he was admitted to the bar of the su- 
preme court of Michigan. He occupied 
the positions of secretary of the Detroit 
city council, clerk of the supreme court, 
and secretary of the territorial legislature. 
In September, 1820, he made a tour 
of the lakes, in the General Cass ex- 
l)edition, and acted as its secretary. 
While he lived in Detroit he was distin- 
guished for his close application to his 
profession. At the early age of twenty-two, he had already revised and pub- 
lished the laws of Michigan. At this time he was admitted to practice before 
the supreme court of the United States. 

All the country west of Lake Michigan, in the old Northwest Territory, 
was, in 1823, set apart and organized into a new judicial district, and Mr. 
Doty was appointed, by President Monroe, to be its first judge. 

In this judicial capacity he heard murder trials, divorce cases, actions 
upon contracts, controversies between trappers, claims to unsurveyed lands, 
numerous conflicts between civil and military authority, and in that capacity 
brought order out of general chaos. Judge Doty was amply able to do this. 
He laid the foundation for the better establishment of society, and taught the 
wild and lawless classes to respect and obey the laws. This was no easy task. 

In 1832, Mr. Doty was appointed by the secretary of war to lay out 
military roads from Green Bay to Prairie du Chien and Fort Dearborn, now 
Chicago. In 1834, he was elected as a member of the territorial legislature of 
Michigan, and drafted the act which, through his influence, was passed, that 
made Michigan a state and Wisconsin a territory. In 1837, Mr. Doty was 

281 




282 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

elected delegate to congress, in which capacity he ably served. He was re- 
elected and succeeded himself, until he was appointed governor and superin- 
tendent of Indian affairs of Wisconsin territory. In this dual capacity he 
served from October 5, 1841, to September 16, 1844. 

Governor Doty's first message was long, clear and comprehensive. He 
opposed all laws savoring of monopolies or their creation. He recommended 
that steps be taken to organize a state, and that bank circulation should be cir- 
cumscribed and made more durable, for the protection of the people. To 
encourage the introduction of the sheep-growing industry he advocated that 
sheep and their fleeces be exempt from taxation ; that an effective system for 
the support of common schools be devised, and that all Indian tribes be 
removed from the territory. 

Governor Doty was one of the first to make a vigorous attempt to have 
the southern boundary of Wisconsin established on a line drawn from the head 
of Lake Michigan westward, in accordance with the Ordinance of 1787. Had 
he succeeded in this, Chicago would have been the metropolis of Wisconsin, 
and Milwaukee the second city. The administration of Governor Doty was 
both stormy and unpleasant. 

In 1849, Governor Doty was elected to congress, and re-elected in 1851 to 
succeed himself. In 1861, he was appointed superintendent of Indian affairs 
of Utah. In May, 1863, he was made governor of Utah, and in this capacity 
contended with the bloody, revengeful and unscrupulous powers of the Mor- 
mon church. He occupied this position up to the time of his death, which 
occurred June 13, 1865. 




Chapter XXXV. 



1844— 1845. 

Administration of Governor Nathaniel Potter Tallmadge. 

Nathaniel Potter Tallmadge, the third and last territorial gov- 
ernor of Wisconsin, was born at Chatham, Columbia county, New York, on 
February 8, 1795. He became conspicuous at an early age for his ability to 
accjuire information, having begun Latin without a tutor, and while yet in the 

district school. He was graduated from 
Williams college with honors, in 181 5, and 
began the study of law with General 
James Tallmadge, of Poughkeepsie, New 
York. In 1818, after representing a dis- 
trict in Dutchess county, he was elected 
to the state senate, where he established 
a reputation which extended far beyond 
the borders of his own state. He was 
elected to the United States senate for a 
term of six years, beginning March 4, 

Mr. Tallmadge was a polished orator, 
sound in logic, and had the reputation of thoroughly understanding ev'ery subject 
he undertook to discuss. Mr. Tallmadge's controversy with John C. Calhoun, 
on the rights of the colored peoyile to present petitions to congress, together 
with his able controversy with President Van Buren, whose recommendations 
he opposed, brought him prominently before the public. His popularity and 
audacity of character were now so great that he proceeded to reorganize the 
Democracy of New York, for the purpose of defeating Martin Van Buren. 
This was during the year of 1839, and, while so occupied, he was triumphantly 
re-elected to the United State? senate. 

In 1844, Mr. Tallmadge i)urchased a beautiful tract of land east of the 
city of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, for the purpose of making it his future home. 
President Tyler having nominated him for governor of the Territory of Wis- 
consin, in 1844, Mr. Tallmadge resigned his position in the .senate, and ac- 
cepted the office. 

Mr. Tallmadge succeeded Mr., Doty as chief executive of the territory on 
September 16, 1844, and held the office until May 1;^, 1845, ^^ which time, the 
Democrats having again come into power, he was removed, and Governor 

283 




284 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

Dodge was appointed his successor. When Mr. TaUmadge became governor 
he found the people of the territory full of excitement, owing to the stormy 
controversies which had arisen between the legislature and Governor Doty, 
but Governor Tallmadge restored peace and harmony, and was soon working 
in unison with the erratic body. 

Governor Tallmadge delivered, in person, his message to the legislature 
on January 17, 1845. ^^^ ^^^^^ message he pointed out to the legislature that 
the famous Milwaukee and Rock River canal had been abandoned, and 
recommended the construction of a railway from the Mississippi to Lake 
Michigan. 

Among other important measures he advocated and recommended the 
establishment of agricultural societies and schools. This dignified and able 
message was so broad in its principles that the legislature authorized seven 
hundred and fifty copies to be printed in German. 

Governor Tallmadge was a lover of philosophy, literature, and good so- 
ciety. His speeches and writings were refined and showed exceptional ability. 
Upon retiring from office Mr. Tallmadge abandoned active politics, and, though 
he continued to reside at Fond du Lac, he spent a large portion of his time at 
Washington, where he was ever ready to advocate and advance the interests of 
Wisconsin. 

At and near Fond du Lac, at an early day, Governors Doty and Tall- 
madge had settled, together with a large number of people remarkable for wealth, 
culture and hospitality. In all the northwest, at that time, there was no so- 
cial coterie to be compared with this one. Their children were taught French, 
music and art, by private tutors. They frequently gave hunting and other 
parties on an extensive scale. They regarded the poor with marked considera- 
tion and respect, and in every way added a charm and wholesomeness to so- 
ciety that had never been known in a new country, and is now comparatively 
unknown. The Tallmadge family was very popular and for many years were 
society leaders. 



Chapter XXXVI. 



WISCONSIN'S STATE GOVERNORS. 

Administration of Nelson Dewey. 
1848— 1852. 



Nelson Dewey. — Progress of the Badger Commonwealth. 
Elections. 



-Legislative Enactments. 




Nelson Dewey, our first governor after the admission of the territory into 
the union, was born in the town of Lebanon, state of Connecticut, on Decem- 
ber 19, 1813. The year following he moved to Butternuts, near Morris, in 

Oswego county, state of New York, 
where his youthful days were passed upon 
a farm. 

Mr. Dewey's early education was 
commenced in a district school at Morris, 
but at the age of sixteen he was sent to 
Hamilton academy at Chenango, New 
York, where he remained three years. 
Among his classmates at the academy 
were William Pitt Lynde, who, for many 
years, represented Milwaukee in con- 
gress, and Professor J. W. Sterling, of 
the University of Wisconsin. 
Mr. Dewey was elected the first register of deeds for Grant county in 1837. 
He was also elected three times to the territorial legislature, and was at one 
time chosen speaker of the house of representatives and vice-president of the 
council. In 1848, upon the admission of Wisconsin into the union, Mr. 
Dewey was elected by the Democrats to be Wisconsin's first governor, over 
John H. Tweedy, by a majority exceeding five thousand. 

Governor Dewey, upon taking his seat as governor, found himself in the 
midst of chaos, as the state was now separated from the general federal control. 
Numerous appointments were made at the dictation of local influence, which 
frequently created jealousy and dissatisfaction. Notwithstanding these disap- 
pointments. Governor Dewey vvas so able and eflicient in the administration of 
public affairs that he was renominated and elected in 1849, by a larger 
majority than before. At the end of his second gubernatorial term, in January, 
1853, he retired to private life, but, during the fall of the same year, the 

285 



286 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

Democracy nominated him for the state senate in the Sixteenth district, and he 
was elected over Orsamus Cole, now chief-justice of the supreme court of Wis- 
consin, by a majority of only three votes. 

In 1873, Ex-Governor Dewey was appointed state-prison commissioner 
by Governor Taylor. For more than half a century, Governor Dewey was 
a member or nominee of every territorial and state convention held in Wis- 
consin by the Democratic party, besides fre(]uently acting as a delegate to its 
national conventions for nominating candidates for president. 

It has been said by those who knew him well, that the numerous honors 
with which his party adorned him always came without solicitation on his 
part, and that, in the various positions of trust, his integrity was never 
questioned. On July 21st, 1889, Governor Dewey died at his home in Cass- 
ville, Wisconsin, regretted by innumerable friends. 

The "Badger" commonwealth, from its first introduction into the union 
of states, took front rank in the passage of hberal laws, and the generous 
maintenance of the highest order of public institutions. In territorial 
times its charitable, penal and educational systems were inaugurated; but 
now, as the youngest state in the union, it extended and developed its scien- 
tific methods, in keeping with the growth of the commonwealth. 

Wisconsin's magnetic attractions Avere cheap and rich lands, extensive 
pine forests, valuable lead mines, and unlimited water power along its beauti- 
ful rivers. These various attractions gave such an impetus to the growth of 
the young state that, during the two years succeedaig its admission into the 
union, there was an increase of population of nearly ninety-five thousand. 
The last territorial census showed a population of two hundred and ten thousand 
five hundred and forty-six. 

This new and healthy population was chiefly from New York, New 
England and Ohio, together with many thousands of Germans, Scandinavians, 
Poles, Belgians, Irish, Dutch, English, and Scotch immigrants, all of which 
has made Wisconsin one of the most progressive states in the union. 

During the first session of the legislature, under Governor Dewey's first 
administration, numerous imjiortant bills were passed, among which were the 
division of the state into congressional districts, the election of judges, the im- 
jjrovement of the Fox river, appraisal of university lands with relation to the 
reorganization of schools, the construction of plank-roads, the salaries of state 
officers, numerous acts relating to the organization of towns and counties, 
thirty for state roads, thirty-eight appropriation bills, and ten for the incorpora- 
tion of villages and cities, and other organizations. 

Among the most important acts passed was one for the establishment of 
the State University, consisting of a board of regents, consisting of a presi- 
dent and twelve members, which included the secretary and treasurer. The 



WISCONSIN'S STATE GOVERNORS. 287 

passage of an act which created the most excitement in Wisconsin, and drew 
forth serious comments from numerous states in the union, was the " Home- 
stead Exemption Bill." It was the most liberal law ever passed by any state 
authority, and is similar to the homestead law now upon our statute books. 
One of our leading papers at Madison, in commenting upon the law, used the 
followmg language : 

" The legislature has passed a bill, which, if not immediately repealed, 
will work some most wonderful changes in the business transactions of our new 
state. This, to a majority of our people, was the most odious feature in the 
condemned constitution. We can regard it as nothing less than a covert, 
under which villainy can i)ractice its devices unmolested, as it is a permission 
for rascals to get in debt, if they can, and pay when they please, not when they 
ought, as justice demands." 

At the July ses.sion of the legislature in 1848, the following commissioners were 
elected to revise the statutory laws: M. Frank. C. S. (rordon and Alexander W. 
Randall. Mr. Randall declining to serve, CM. Baker was appointed by the 
governor to fill the vacancy. The report of the commissioners was presented 
to the next session of the legislature, examined by that body, and adopted, 
with some few amendments, at its January session, 1849. "The Revised 
Statutes of Wisconsin," as thus revised, was printed at Albany, in 1849. I'his 
was a volume of eight hundred and ninety-nine pages, octavo. 

At the fall election of 1848, Charles Durkee, Orsamus Cole and James D. 
Doty were elected members of congress. At the general election in the United 
States at this time, it will be remembered. General Zachary Taylor was elected 
president, and Millard Fillmore, vice-president. 

One of the first acts passed during the second session of the legislature 
was "An act relating to interest." According to the conditions of this act, any 
rate of interest agreed upon by the parties to a written contract should be legal 
and valid and, that when no interest was specified, seven per cent, was fixed 
as the legal rate. The passage of this law had the effect to bring capital into 
the state, and to greatly stimulate private investments as well as the general 
development of the country. This law was afterwards repealed. 

The first session of the supreme court of the state of Wisconsin convened 
on the 8th day of January, 1849, with A. W. Stowe, as chief-justice, E. V. Wliiton, 
M. M. Jackson, Charles H. Larrabee, and Levi Hubbell, associates. On 
January 30, 1849, ^^e first organization of the State Historical Society was per- 
fected. Nelson Dewey was elected its first president, with one vice-presi- 
dent from each of the counties in the state. The Rev. Charles Lord was 
■elected recording secretary; I. A. Lapham, corresi)onding secretary; E. M. 
Williamson, treasurer; John Catlin, Beriah Brown and Alexander Botkin 
■executive committee. 



288 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

During the year 1849, ^^^ preliminary steps for the organization of a 
school for the blind, to be located at Janesville, were made. A school of this 
kind had previously been supported by voluntary efforts of the people at 
Janesville and vicinity. In February, 1850, the Wisconsin Institution for the 
Blind was organized by an act of the legislature. 

The congressional elections, held in 1850, elected Charles Durkee, Ben- 
jamin C. Eastman and James D. Doty members of congress. On September 
19, 1850, the state Democratic convention placed in nomination the following 
persons: For governor, Don A. J. Upham; lieutenant-governor, Timothy 
Burns; secretary of state, William A. Barstow ; treasurer, Edward H. Janssen; 
attorney-general, Charles Billinghurst; state superintendent of schools, Azel P. 
Ladd. 

The Whig state convention, on September 24th, placed in nomination 
Leonard J. Farwell for governor; James Hughes, lieutenant-governor; Robert 
VV. Wright, secretary of state; Jefferson Crawford, treasurer; John C. Trues- 
dell, attorney-general. At the election in November, the Democratic ticket 
was elected, except Don A. J. Upham. Leonard J. Farwell, the Whig candi- 
date, had a majority of five hundred and sixty votes. 

In September, 1850, all the swamp and overflowed lands within the pres- 
ent limits were donated to the state by congress. 






Chapter XXXVII. 



Administration ok Leonard James Farwell. 
1852—1854. 

Legislative Enactments. — Imi)cachnient Trial of the Hon. Levi Hubbell. — Railroad 
Mania. — Elections. 

Leonard James ]'"ak\vell was Wisconsin's second distinguished state 
governor. Mr. Farwell was the son of Captain James Farwell, of Watertown, 
New York, where he was born January 5, 1819. In 1824, Captain James 

Farwell died, and in 1830 the only son 
was left an orphan, upon the death of 
his mother, Mrs. Rebecca Cady Farwell. 
Thus Leonard J., at the early age of 
eleven, was left a penniless, uneducated 
orphan. After attending a district school 
until his fourteenth year, he entered a dry 
goods store, but this occupation being 
distasteful to him, he learned the tinner's 
trade, and at the same time applied him- 
self to the rudimental study of book- 
keeping, and the fundamental principles 
of trade and commerce. 
In 1838, Mr. Farwell settled at Lockport, Illinois, and without any other 
capital than his kit of tools, his know ledge of his trade, and a large stock of en. 
ergy and perseverance, he opened a tinshop and hardware store, and soon 
built up a good business. On his twenty-first birthday, January 5, 1840, he 
sold out his business interest at Locki)ort, and removed to Milwaukee, where 
he opened a hardware store on an extensive .scale. Mr. Farwell's complete 
knowledge of the business in w^hich he was engaged, together with his great 
energy and ability, soon enabled him to build up the largest and most lucrative 
wholesale house in Wisconsin, and one of the largest in the west. After having 
made a tour to the West Indies, in 1846, he returned and purchased a large 
tract of property, upon which the city of Madison is now situated, together 
with the water-power at the outlet of Fourth lake. 

In 1847, Mr. Farwell made an extended tour of the Old World, visiting, 
during the next three years, all the principal points of interest in Europe, 
Asia, Africa and Great Britain. Upon his return from abroad, he disposed of 
his business in Mihvaukee, and invested largely in enterprises at Madison, 

289 




290 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

Wisconsin, among which were the estabHshment of a woolen factory, machine- 
shops and founderies. He was instrumental to a large extent in making 
Madison the beautiful city it now is. 

In 185 1, Mr. Farwell was nominated for governor by the Whig party, 
and, although the rest of the Whig nominees were defeated, he was elected. 
In ten years Mr. Farwell had accumulated a vast fortune, visited most of the 
civilized countries of the world, built a city, and become the chief executive of 
his adopted state. As governor, Mr. Farwell took the same interest in the en- 
tire state that, as a private citizen, he had taken in his own affairs, and the 
affairs of those intrusted to his care, and, although the legislature was polit- 
ically opposed to the governor, yet such important recommendations as the 
establishment of a separate supreme court, a state banking system, a geological 
survey, an immigration agency, and other equally important measures were 
carried into effect by that body. 

In 1857, Mr. Farwell's railroad investments having proved a failure, he 
retired to his farm near Lake Mendota, Madison, where he superintended the 
erection of the building for the State Hospital for the Insane. In 1859, he was 
elected to the state legislature, in 1863 made assistant examiner in the patent 
office at Washington, and, three months later, appointed chief-examiner of new 
inventions, which position he occupied until 1876. 

Upon the night of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, Mr. Farwell was 
in Ford's theatre, and, immediately after the shooting, he comprehended that 
the conspiracy was so extensive that the principal officers of the administra- 
tion would likewise be assassinated. He therefore, with all speed, hastened 
from the theatre to the room of Vice-President Johnson, and arrived in time to 
prevent Adtzerot from executing his part in the terrible plot. For saving his 
life, Mr. Johnson tendered to Mr. Farwell any position under the administra- 
tion he desired, but the offer was declined, upon the ground "that jniblic of- 
fices should not be used for the payment of debts of gratitude." 

Chicago's great fire, in 1872, inflicted another severe financial blow to 
Mr. Farwell, which necessitated his removal to Grant City, Missouri, where 
he engaged in the real estate and banking business up to the time of his death, 
which occurred on April i, 1889. 

Mr. Farwell, as an able, honest, patriotic and energetic citizen, as well as 
a public officer, should be remembered with great kindness and gratitude by 
the people of Wisconsin. 

Among the important measures introduced in the legislature of 1852, which 
became a law, was an act for the completion of the improvement of the Fox 
and Rock rivers, by which act all the unsold lands granted by congress, esti- 
mated at about two hundred thousand acres, should be brought into the mar- 
ket at a minimum price, not less than two dollars and fifty cents per acre. A 



WISCONSIN'S STATE GOVERNORS. 291 

bill was also passed providing for the establishment of a commissioner of im- 
migration for the state, with an office located in the city of New York. The 
salary of the commissioner was fixed at $1,500, and the sum of $1,250 was al- 
lowed for printing information concerning the interests of the state in English, 
German and other languages, for free circulation. 

At the same session of the legislature, bills were passed granting thirty- 
one plank-road charters, and thirty charters for railroads, villages and cities, 
bridges and ferries; Perhaps one of the most miportant subjects passed upon 
was the banking ciuestion, as a large majority of the people had declared in 
favor of the organization of state banks. Their representatives were sent to 
the capitol, with positive instructions to take such steps as would secure the 
constitutional establishment of banking interests. 

On April 19th, the legislature approved of the act incorporating the Wis- 
consin Institute for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb. This institution 
was located on a valuable tract of land near the village of Delavan, in Wal- 
worth county, and consisted of eleven and a fraction acres. This site was 
donated to the state by F. K. Phcenix, a member of the board of trustees. A 
few years later, the trustees purchased twenty-two acres, lying on three sides of 
the original site. 

The year 1852 was the year of railroad mania in the state. Engineers 
were everywhere busily engaged in surveying roads from the various points. 
Beloit to Madison, Janesville to Milwaukee, Milwaukee to La Crosse, Chicago, 
Green Kay and Fond du Lac, and from Racine to the IRinois state line. 

At the fall election of 1852^ E. V. Whiton was elected chief-justice of the 
supreme court, and Samuel Crawford and Samuel Smith, associate justices. 
The defeated candidates were Charles H. Larrabee, Marshall M. Strong, and 
James H. Knowlton. B. C. Eastman, John B. Macy and Daniel Wells, Jr., 
were elected members of congress. The Democratic electoral ticket was 
chosen, which electors cast their votes for Franklin Pierce for president of the 
United States. 

The most important matter brought before the legislature was the pre- 
ferring and filing of charges against the Hon. Levi Hubbell for alleged cor- 
ruption and malfeasance in the performance of his duties as judge of the Second 
judicial circuit of the state. The charges were preferred by William K. Wilson, 
on January 26, 1853. The assembly appointed a committee of five to exam- 
ine the charges, and on February 23d, the committee so appointed reported 
that it had taken testimony upon the subject of the charges, and upon the 
proof so taken found Levi Hubbell had been guilty of divers acts of corruption 
and malfeasance in the performance of said duties in said office, as set forth in 
the charges and specifications against him, and that public justice required 
that said judge, Levi Hubbell, be removed from his office as judge of the 



292 



HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 



Second judicial circuit. On March 4th, a resolution was adopted appointing 
a committee to report articles of impeachment. On the 2 2d of March, the 
committee reported that it had performed the duty assigned. 

On June 8th, the senate, by message, informed the assembly that they 
were ready to proceed with the trial of the Hon. Levi Hubbell, in the senate 
chamber. The trial of impeachment in the senate was conducted, on the part 
of the state, by E. G. Ryan, Esq., afterwards chief-justice of the supreme 
court. Judge Hubbell, the respondent, was ably defended by Messrs. Jona- 
than E. Arnold and James H. Knowlton. There were eleven articles of im- 
peachment, and sixty-eight specifications of the same. After a full trial, the 
senate, on the 9th day of July, 1853, announced that judgment had l)een taken 
on all the articles of impeachment, and upon the respective specifications there- 
under, and that there was not a sufficient number, according to the constitution, 
who had voted to find the respondent guilty of any of the charges and specifica 
tions. The president of the court arose, and declared that the Hon. Levi Hub- 
bell, judge of the Second judicial circuit, was fully acipiitted of all the charges 
preferred against him in the several articles of impeachment. 

The report of the state bank comptroller showed that there were twelve 
banks doing business under the general banking laws, during the year 1853. 
That the total amount of circulating notes issued by the respective banks, and 
outstanding on the 31st of January, 1854, was $593,066.00, for the redemp- 
tion of which securities amounting to $608,000.00 had been assigned to the 
state treasury. 

The official vote of the state at the fall election of 1853, gave William A. 
Barstow, the Democratic nominee for governor, 30,405 votes, and E. D. 
Holton, the Free Soil nominee, 21,286. 




Chapter XXXVIIL 



Administraiion of William Augustus Barstovv, 



Testiiiij llie FuLjitive Slave Law. 
State. — Elections. — Census. 



-School Land Fraud. 



-Clrowth and Prosperity of the 




William Augustus Barstow, one of Wisconsin's most efificient gov- 
ernors, was born at Plainfield, Connecticut, September 13, 1813. The Bar- 
stows came from Yorkshire, England, where the name was a distinguished one. 
^^'ilHam Augustus and his brother Samuel H. engaged in business at Norwich, 

Connecticut, for several years prior to 
1834, at which time William Augustus 
entered into partnershiji with another 
brother, Horatio N., at Cleveland, Ohio, 
and shortly built up an extensive milling 
business. The financial crisis of 1837, 
however, compelled the brothers to sus- 
pend business. After their affairs were 
settled up, William Augustus, in 1839, 
removed to Prairieville, and purchased 
the water-power and adjacent one hun- 
dred and sixty acres of land upon which 
Waukesha is now situated. At this place 
he erected a flouring-mill and opened a store. He was soon at the head of 
a i)ros])erous business. In those days Waukesha was called the " Hub," as 
it was the great ])olitical center of the territory of Wisconsin. 

Mr. Barstow became prominent in politics in 1841, upon his appointment 
as postmaster and one of the three county commissioners of Milwaukee county, 
which then included what is now Waukesha county, and, while acting in this 
capacity, in 1846, caused the creation of Waukesha county. In 1849, Mr. 
Barstow was elected secretary of state by the Democracy. While acting in this 
capacity, he was charged with the difficult task of bringing into the market 
and selling the state school lands. It has been said that no secretary has been 
called upon to perform more arduous, new or important duties than he. 

In 1853, Mr. Barstow was elected governor by the Democrats and took 
his seat in January, 1854. His first message showed unusual ability, while 
his ap])ointments were both creditable and satisfactory. Among his appoint- 
ments was that of the poet, James G. Percival, who succeeded Edward 
Daniels as state geologist. Mr. Barstow was again nominated for governor in 

293 



294 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

1855, his opponent being Coles Bashford. This was a campaign of unparalleled 
bitterness. After the violent contest was over, the returns showed that Gov- 
ernor Barstow was defeated by a few votes. The board of canvassers, how- 
ever, accepted some supplemental returns from the backwoods, which would 
have made him governor, had it not transpired that they were in every 
respect fraudulent. 

The counting in of Mr. Bashford was carried to the supreme court, which, 
in due time, enabled Mr. Barstow to ascertain the spurious character of the 
supplemental returns. As soon as Mr. Barstow was convinced of the fraudu- 
lent nature of the supplemental returns, he resigned his position as governor, 
which was greatly to his own honor, although some of his constitutents, who 
laid the scheme to corrupt the purity of the ballot and overthrow the will of 
the people, were very much displeased. 

Mr. Barstow, as head of the Democracy, became the pohtical target for 
all the criticism and odium which his opponents could cast, as well as many of 
his old-time colleagues, who were interested in preparing the spurious returns. 

After becoming a partner with Alexander E. Gray and E. M. Hunter, in 
the banking business at Janesville, which proved disastrous, Mr. Barstow 
returned to milling, which he followed until he entered the army, as colonel of 
a regiment of cavalry, recruited by himself in 1861. In 1862, Mr. Barstow's 
health being somewhat impaired, he was made provost-marshal general of Kan- 
sas, and given the hard task of cleaning that fiery section of guerrillas. The 
next year, in 1863, he was detailed upon court-martial duties, which lasted 
until March 4, 1865. He then went to Leavenworth, for the purpose of en- 
gaging in business, and was there taken sick and died on December 13, 1865. 

Mr. Barstow, in his younger days, was considered the handsomest man in 
Wisconsin. He was extremely popular with all classes that personally came 
in contact with him. His friendships were sincere and lasting, while there was 
no sacrifice too great for him to make for those he loved. He was a close 
friend and associate for many years of Alexander W. Randall and, like James 
D. Doty, had no enemies except political ones. 

The "fugitive-slave law" in Wisconsin was not tested until 1854. One 
Josiah Glover, a runaway slave, was employed in a mill on the Milwaukee 
road, near Racine. On the night of the loth of March, between seven and 
eight o'clock, while playing cards with three colored companions in a neighbor- 
ing cabin, there suddenly appeared on the scene a United States deputy mar- 
shal from Milwaukee and five assistants, accompanied by Benami S. (iar- 
land, a Missourian, who claimed to be the owner of Glover. After a desperate 
struggle, in which Glover was quite badly cut up, he was placed in irons, 
thrown into a wagon and carried to Milwaukee. The night was extremely 
cold, and in order to add to his miseries the fugitive was frequently kicked and 



WISCONSIN'S STATE GOVERNORS. 295 

beaten while on the way by the brutal Missourian, who frequently threatened 
him with more serious punishment upon his return to the plantation. It was 
nearly morning when they reached Milwaukee, where the slave was thrown 
into the county jail, and it was not until several hours later that his wounds 
were dressed by a surgeon. 

Sherman M. Booth, who at this time edited the "Wisconsin Free Demo- 
crat," was among the first to learn of the Glover affair, and, at an early hour 
that morning, was riding up and down the streets distributing hand-bills 
turned out of his printing-ofiice, and giving news of the calling of an indigna- 
tion meeting. While riding through the streets he frequentlyshouted, "Free men 
to the rescue !" Booth's meeting proved a great success. General James H. 
Paine, Dr. E. B.Wolcott, F. J. Blair, Booth and numerous others made speeches 
and adopted resolutions msisting on Glover's right to writ of habeas corpus and 
a trial by jury. The writ of habeas corpus, which was issued by the local 
judge, was not obeyed, either by the United States district judge, A. G. Miller, 
or by the Milwaukee sheriff. Upon receiving this news, the crowd which had 
gathered at the court-house, being reinforced by a delegation of about one 
hundred from Racine, became furious, marched to the jail and demanded the 
prisoner. The United States deputy marshal in charge refused to deliver up 
the prisoner, upon which the crowd attacked the frail structure with axes, 
beams and crowbars, and rescued Glover about sunset, and sent him to Wau- 
kesha, where his wounds were properly attended to. Glover was soon back in 
Racine, and within a short space of time escaped to Canada's free soil. Booth 
was arrested for aiding in the escape of the fugitive slave. The supreme court 
of the state discharged him on a writ of habeas corpus. In July he was in- 
dicted in the United States district court, but the supreme court interfered and 
again discharged him. In the first case which came before the supreme court 
Chief-Justice Whiton decided that the fugitive slave act was unconstitutional 
and void, as it conferred judicial powers on court commissioners, and deprived 
the accused of the right of trial by jury. In the second case which came 
before the supreme court, the decision was that the warrant of arrest was 
irregular and void. 

The United States supreme court, however, reversed the decision of the 
state court, and Booth was again arrested in i860, but shortly after pardoned 
by the president. 

Garland, the Missouri slaveholder, was arrested in Racine for assault and 
battery, but was released by Judge Miller upon a writ o{ habeas corpus. Upon 
his release he hurried back to his Missouri plantation. While the people at Ra- 
cine and vicinity had no further occasion to take the law into their own hands 
in the defense of humanity, yet. they frequendy engaged in assisting slaves to 
escape on the "underground railroad." 



296 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

The occurrence, in 1854, of what is known as the "School Land Fraud" 
created much excitement throughout the state, and had the effect indirectly of 
materially injuring the Democratic party. In 1854, the Argus and Democrat, 
one of the leading state papers, announced as on authority that all the school 
lands then subject to entry were purchased on the 20th of April, at the ap- 
praised value. James Ludington, the president of the Bank of the West, was 
the purchaser. Mr. Cha]mian. cashier of the Bank of the West, stated that the 
amount of the purchase would be from fifty thousand to two hundred thousand 
acres. According to Section 32, of the Revised Statutes, every person making 
application for the purchase of school or university lands should produce to 
the secretary of state an application m writing, describing the tract of land 
which he proposed to purchase, by the number of section, township and range, 
and the subdivision of the section. The statute required the purchaser's name 
to be subscribed to the application, which application the secretary was re- 
quired to file and preserve m his office. The apphcation of Mr. Ludington 
was a "blanket" application, and intended to keep the doors of the land-ofhce 
closed, as against other purchasers, until Mr. Ludington and his agents should 
select the most desirable tracts. Even Mr. Ludington's lists were prepared by 
clerks in the land-otffce. Mr. Ludington, after receiving the' lists prepared in 
the land-ofhce, selected about seventy thousand acres of the most desirable 
tracts ; then the remaining lands were again put into the market. Thus the 
doors of the land-office had been closed as against parties desirous of purchas- 
ing for actual improvement, and the ofiicers and clerks assisted a speculator to 
make his apphcation from the public records. This sale, and the manner in 
which it was conducted, were an outrage on the people, and a disgrace to those 
whose duty it was to protect the people in their rights. 

The commissioner of immigration reported that he had received numer- 
ous letters of inquiry at the New York office, and that, during the period of 
eight months prior to his report, three thousand people had visited the New 
York office, of whom two thousand came from Europe. These visitors were 
principally Germans. Their visitation was undoubtedly due to the fact that 
thirty thousand pamphlets had been distributed abroad. It was estimated that 
the number of Germans arriving in Wisconsin in 1853 was between sixteen 
thousand and eighteen thousand. The number of Irish, between four thou- 
sand and five thousand. In 1854, about fifteen thousand Norwegians and 
Swedes came to Wisconsin. The able and efticient Mr. Haertel had only 
entered upon the duties of his office on May i, 1853. 

The Milwaukee & Mississippi Railroad Company completed its road as 
far as Madison in the month of May, 1854, and, on the 23d, a great celebra- 
tion was held at Madison. The opening of this road added an impetus to 
immigration and the development of the country. Up to this time, it will be 



WISCONSIN'S STATE GOVERNORS. 297 

remembered that the grain raised near Madison and vicinity had to be drawn 
to Mihvaukce by teams, the expenses on the road frequently al)sorbing more 
than the profits. 

(jovernor Karstow's message to the state legishiture, convened January 10, 
1855. ojjened with an ap])ro})riate reference to the resuhs of the jjast year, as 
affording the people of the state reasons to indulge m congratulations to an 
extent never before warrantable. 

The condition of the school fund he reported as highly flattering, and that 
there would be for distribution, the following year, $142,431.29, about ninety- 
three cents to every child in the state. He stated that the bank comptroller 
rei)orted the amount of bank circulation at $937,592.00, secured by a deposit 
of stocks amounting to $1,033,000.00. I'he governor also referred to the 
institutions of the state being in a promising condition, and that public im- 
provements were being carried forward as rapidly as possible. The state 
pri.son he reported as nearly completed, and of a permanent and substantial 
character, being fire-i)roof. He urged liberal provisions for the deaf and dumb 
and blind institutions. He also referred to his former message on the impor- 
tance of jjroviding for the sale of swamp and overflowed lands granted to the 
state by an act of congress, approved September 28, 1850, numbering about 
one million six hundred and fifty-one thousand and sixty-two acres. 

The superintendent of i)ublic instructions reported the total number of 
children in the state, over four and under twenty years of age, at one hundred 
and fifty-five thousand one hundred and twenty-five, an increase of sixteen 
thousand four hundred and sixty-seven over the number reported in 1854. 

The first annual report of the State Historical Society was published this 
year, for the year 1854. This rejiort shows that the society had received one 
thousand and fifty volumes and a number of paintings, autographs, and anti- 
(]uarian sjjccimens. The society at this time occupied a small room in the 
basement of the Baptist church, at Madison. Dr. Lyman C. Draper was the 
efficient and successful corresponding .secretary for the society. 

In looking back upon the general political aftairs in 1855, we are much 
impressed with the close resemblance between the politicians of those days and 
the present. The legislative assembly of 1855 was Republican, but had a Dem- 
ocratic governor. The Madison Democrat, in commenting upon this legisla- 
ture, uses the following language : "A body possessing a less amount of talent 
never met at the capitol. It came with professions of industry, economy and 
short sessions upon its lips. An idler, more lavish and dilatory body has not 
since the organization of the state, assembled within the walls of the capitol ; 
and the following is the result in brief of their labors : An amount of local 
legislation unparalleled in the history of the state, a failure to enact a single 
law which will accomplish a reform in public affairs, time devoted to the pur- 



298 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

suit of partisan and sinister objects to the total neglect of good and wholesome 
legislation, an amount of appropriations never before equaled in a single ses- 
sion, and a state tax of $350,000.00, $7.00 to each voter and 75 cents to 
every man, woman and child in the state." 

The Madison yoiirnal in its next issue made the following reply to the 
Madison Democrat: "The legislature passed a prohibitory liquor law, the 
governor vetoed it. It passed a law to investigate the affairs of the state de- 
partments, the governor vetoed it. In short, with scarcely a single exception, 
every law to accomplish a reform in public affairs found an unscrupulous and 
active enemy in the governor, and was either vetoed or what is stilll more out- 
rageous — pocketed. * * * * * * *." 

At the Democratic state convention held at Madison, August 31, 1855, 
the following persons were nominated: For governor, William A. Barstow; 
lieutenant-governor, Arthur McArthur ; secretary of state, David W. Jones ; 
state treasurer, Charles Kuehn ; attorney-general, William R. Smith; superin 
tendent of pubHc instruction, A. C. Barry; bank comptroller, William M. 
Dennis; state-prison commissioner, Edward McGarry. 

The Republican state convention met at Madison, September i, 1855, 
and nominated the following ticket : For governor, Coles Bashford ; lieutenant- 
governor, C. C. Sholes ; secretary of state, S. D. Hastings ; attorney-general, 
Alexander W. Randall ; state treasurer, Charles Roesser ; supeTintendent of 
public instruction, J. G. McMynn ; bank comptroller, F. H. West ; state- 
prison commissioner, James Giddings. After a spirited contest, the Novem- 
ber elections resulted in the election of the whole Democratic ticket, except 
W. A. Barstow. 

The state census, in 1855, taken under an act of the legislature, showed a 
population of five hundred and fifty-two thousand one hundred and nine. 






Chapter XXXIX. 



(Governor Bashford's Administration. 



1856-1858. 

Coles Bashford.— Bashford-lJarstow Contest. — The Slate's Progress. — Political. 

Coles Bashkord, the successor of Governor Barstow, was born at Cold 
Springs, Putman county. New York, January 24, 1816. He was educated at 
the Wesleyan Seminary, T.ima, New York. He studied law with John M. 
Holley at Lyons, New York, and was admitted to the bar in 1841. After 

practicing law for several years, and oc- 
cupying the position of district attorney 
of Wayne county, he removed to Oshkosh, 
Wisconsin, in 1850, and at once became 
a prominent figure at the bar, as well as 
in politics. The next year he was elected 
to the state senate as a Wliig and Free 
Soiler. Being one of our most able and 
useful senators, he was re-elected in 1854 
for the years 1855- 1856, but resigned in 
1855, and became the Republican can- 
didate for governor. After a hotly-con- 
tested campaign, the first and true returns 
showed that Mr. Bashford was elected by a small majority, while all the other 
Republican nominees at that election were defeated. 

The zealous friends of Mr. Barstow, however, improvised several sets of 
supplemental returns, which were overwhelmingly in favor of their candidate, 
Governor Barstow, and were of sufficient number to overcome Mr. Bashford's 
small but honest majority. The state board of canvassers, being ardent parti- 
sans of Governor Barstow, received and counted the spurious returns, and de- 
clared him duly elected. 

Mr. Barstow took the oath of office in the executive chamber, January 7, 
1856, and continued in charge of the office. On the same day at noon, Mr. 
Bashford appeared before the supreme court, and was sworn in as governor, 
by Chief- Justice Whiton. (Governor Bashford then proceeded to the executive 
chamber and demanded possession of Mr. l>arstow. The polite and affable 
Mr. Barstow extended his compliments and respects to his visitor, but de- 
clined to vacate the office. The attorney general of the state, in behalf of Mr. 
Bashford, immediately filed an information with the supreme court, inquiring 

29>J 




300 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

by what right or title Mr. Barstow held the office of governor, (iovernor 
Banstow, in pursuance of a summons issued Ijy the court, appeared February 
2, 1856, and was represented by Harlow S. Orton, Jonathan E. Arnold and 
Matt H. Carpenter, who moved to (|uash all proceedings under the writ, upon 
the ground that the court had no jurisdiction of the case. Governor Bash- 
ford's interests were ably presented by the attorney general, Edward G. Ryan, 
Alexander W. Randall and Timothy O. Howe. The motion to quash the 
writ was denied, and an order entered recpiiring Mr. Barstow to appear and 
plead to the writ before a certain day. Upon the court's sustaining the demurer 
interposed by Mr. Bashford, and the entry of an order requiring Mr. Barstow 
to answer within four days, his attorneys withdrew from the case, on the 
ground that their further appearance would be an admission that the court 
had jurisdiction, although the court held that everything pleaded by Mr. 
Bashford was admitted by the default of Mr. Barstow, yet declined to enter 
judgment for the plaintift", but ordered him to produce evidence to prove his 
case. The evidence produced, upon the examination, so clearly establised the 
spuriousness of the supplemental returns, that Mr. Barstow resigned on March 
21, 1856, and Arthur McArthur, the lieutenant-governor, became acting gov- 
ernor, as the supreme court had not yet rendered a final decision. The su- 
preme court finally entered judgment in favor of Mr. Bashford, declaring him 
duly elected to the office of governor, and entitled to the executive chair. 
On the 25th of March the lieutenant-governor vacated the chair, and Mr. 
Bashford became governor. 

This is a memorable event, both on account of the principals and the high 
standing of the attorneys, as well as the intense excitement attendmg all the 
details of the case. The excitement was so great that bloodshed would have 
followed, had it not been fcjr the extraordinary coolness of both Barstow and 
Bashford. The Republicans proposed, if Barstow should refuse to obey the 
order of the court, in case it should be against him, to take possession and in- 
augerate Mr. Bashford by force. The Democrats, on the other hand, claimed 
that the court had no right to inquire whether Barstow had been legally or 
fraudulently elected, and were prepared to resist with force and arms any move- 
ment the Republicans would take. Arms and ammunition were stored in the 
basement of the capitol, as well as in some of the hotels in Madison, and, for 
a while, civil strife seemed inevitable. 

The administration of Governor Bashford was devoid of matters of vast 
importance, save the disposal of the St. Croix land grants, which disastrously 
involved a large number of i)rominent men. At the end of his term, the lead- 
ing Republicans were desirous of again nominating him for governor, but he 
declined to be a candidate for re-election, and resumed his law practice at 
Oshkosh. 



WISCONSIN'S STATE GOVERNORS. 301 

In 1S63, Mr. Bashforcl removed to Tucson, Arizona, where his ui)\vard 
career was as rapid and popular as it had l)een at Oshkosh. In 1864, he was 
elected to the territorial council, and chosen president of that body with litde 
opposition. In 1866, lie was made attorney general of the territory, and dele- 
gate to congress. At the expiration of his term in congress, he was ajjpointed 
secretary of the territory, which position he held until 1876, at which time he 
resigned it to again resume the practice of the law. Governor Bashford died 
on the 25th of April, 1878, of heart disease. He was i)ossessed at the time of 
his death of an ample fortune. He was well read in the law, genial and popu- 
lar, even tempered, and cool at all times, and even during the gubernatorial 
contest, was said to have been the coolest man in Madison. 

On June 23, 1857, the legisluture met in joint convention, for the pur- 
pose of electing a United States senator, in place of the Hon. Henry Dodge, 
whose term of office expired March 4, 1857. James R, Doolittle received 
seventy-nine votes on joint ballot, and Charles Dunn thirty-six. The presi- 
dent, thereupon, declared the votes given for James R. Doolittle to be out of 
order and void, for the reason that Mr. Doolittle had been chosen the circuit 
judge, in 1853, and that the term for which he was chosen had not expired. 
An appeal was taken from the decision of the chair, and, a vote being taken, it 
appeared that forty votes were for sustaining the president, and seventy-one 
against it. In consequence, James R. Doolitde was declared duly elected. 

Among the im])ortant bills passed at this session was one relating to writs 
of //a/>i'as corpus^ for the benefit of fugitive slaves, and the right of trial by jury 
to prevent kidnajjping. This was the Personal Lil)erty Bill, and was intended 
to invalidate the acts of congress on that subject. This act was virtually held 
unconstitutional by the supreme court of the United States, in the Glover case. 

After the organization of the state government in 1848, the capitol build- 
ing not being sufficiendy large to accommodate the different departments 
which had been increased on account of the growth of the state, it became ap- 
parent that a new capitol must be built without delay. The people of Madison 
for good reasons, believed that the capitol might be removed to some other 
part of the state, and, in consequence, donated to the state 850,000 in city 
bonds, to aid in the construction of a new cai)itol on the old site. 

The proposition was accepted by the legislature. On March 3, 1856, an 
act was ])assed authorizing the enlargement of the state capitol. On February 
28, 1857, an act was approved authorizing the governor and secretary of state 
to adopt a plan, and to let the contract for the east wing of the building. This 
contract was awarded to John Ryecraft, of Milwaukee, at $92,000.00, he 
being the lowest bidder. Mr. Ryecraft subsecpiently gave up his contract, and 
it was awarded to A. A. McDonnell. The work was completed in time to l)c 
occupied by the assembly, in 1859. 



302 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

The Milwaukee and Mississippi Railroad Company completed its road to 
the Mississippi river in April, 1857. This was the occasion of great rejoicing, 
and, on the i6th of the same month, a grand excursion trip was made which was 
largely attended. The opening of this road placed the people in the western 
part of the state in communication with the lake shore. 

On February 28, 1857, the legislature approved of an act enabling the 
regents of the State University to borrow $40,000.00 of the university funds 
for the construction of a main edifice for the university. The contract for the 
construction of the building was awarded to James Campbell at $36,550.00, he 
being the lowest bidder. 

The year of 1857 was a year of disastrous failures throughout the west. 
Wisconsin was affected quite severely by this monetary panic. 

The November elections, in 1857, resulted in the election of A. W. Ran- 
dall, Republican, governor, by four hundred and fifty-four majority , E. D. 
Campbell, Democrat, lieutenant-governor, by one hundred and seven majority ; 
D. W. Jones, Democrat, secretary of state, over Carl Schurz, by one thousand 
eight hundred and eighty-six majority ; S. D. Hastings, Republican, treasurer, 
three hundred and seventy-nine majority ; Gabriel Bouck, Democrat, attorney- 
general, five hundred and sixteen majority ; L. C. Draper, Democrat, super- 
intendent of public instruction, three hundred and ninety-one majority ; J. C. 
Squires, Democrat, bank comptroller, eight hundred and thirty-five majority; 
Edward M. McGraw, Republican, state prison commissioner. 

The presidential election, which had taken place in 1856, resulted in the 
election of the Republican ticket in the state. The electoral college cast the 
vote of the state for John C. Fremont for president, and William L. Dayton 
for vice-president. 






Chapter XL. 



Governor Randall's Administration, 1858-1862. 

Alexander W. Randall. — A Special Investigation Committee Brings to Light the Bribery 
ol the L.egislature of 1S56. — Legislation. — Political. — Governor's Message to Legislature.^ 
War Inevitable. — Bursting of War Clouds. 

Alexander Williams Randall, Wisconsin's fifth governor, was an able, 
strong, patriotic and honest man. A man of deep convictions, who always 
expressed his views in an unmistakable manner, and placed them into practical 
effect with wonderful force. Mr. Randall was of Scotch descent, and was born 

at Ames, Montgomery county, New 
York, October 30, 1819. After a course 
in the village school, he completed his 
education at Cherry Valley, Schoharie 
county, New York, then studied law and 
was admitted to the bar at the early age 
of nineteen. Being ambitious, he started 
west and finally located at Prairieville, 
now Waukesha, in 1840, where he at once 
opened a law-oftice. Being a handsome, 
genial, friendly fellow, he soon established 
a profitable business, so prosperous in 
fact that, in 1842, he returned to New 
York for his bride, Susan Van Vechten. 

Although Mr. Randall was very poi)ular as a lawyer in those days, yet he 
gave so much of his valuable time to politics and general public affairs as to 
materially interfere with his income. In 1846, he was elected a member of the 
constitutional convention. Although he joined the Free Soil Democracy, he 
did not become very active with that party, on account of the radical ideas of 
some of its leaders, and in consequence remained nominally a Democrat until 
the organization of the Democratic party in 1854. In 1847, Mr. Randall be- 
carne a prominent factor m furthering the interests of the first railroad in Wis- 
consin, the Milwaukee and Mississij)pi, now a part of the Chicago, Milwaukee 
and St. Paul railway system. He drafted the charter, and was one of its first 
directors. In 1854, he was elected to the assembly, and the next year was 
nominated, by the Republican party, attorney-general, but was defeated with 
the other nominees, except Coles Basliford. In 1856, he was made judge of 
the Second judicial district, composed of the counties of Waukesha and Mil- 
waukee. 

303 




304 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

Governor Randall was one of the first to prophesy the ' ' War of the Rebel- 
lion," and his one desire was to see that Wisconsni was prepared for it. In January, 
1861, in his message to the legislature, he said, " Secession is revolution; revolu- 
tion is war; war against the government is treason. * * * It is time now 
to know whether we have a government, and, if so, whether it has any strength. 
Is our written constitution more than a piece of parchment ? The nation must 
be lost or preserved by its own strength. Its strength is the patriotism of the 
people. Now is the time when politicians must become patriots and men, and 
show their love of country by every sacrifice save that of principle." 

This able and remarkable message he completed by urging the legislature 
to prepare " to respond to the call of the national government for men and 
means to preserve the integrity of the union." 

The real character of Governor Randall was amply shown when, three 
months later. Fort Sumter was fired upon. It was then that his ability and 
energy were put to the test. The state was without military organization, or 
an overflowing treasury, in 186 1 ; but Randall was fully prepared to cope with 
the situation. Bonds were issued, authority granted to place the state on a 
war footing, camps established, military appointments made and all prepara- 
tions possible throughout the state. When Randall heard of the firing on 
Fort Sumter by Beauregard, he said: "The rebellion begins where Charleston 
is; let it end where Charleston was." 

Governor Randall was always willing to address words of cheer and en- 
couragement to the soldiers. He aided materially in conceiving and executing 
those plans of the "War Governors," which were of so much service to the 
government. 

In January, 1862, Governor Randall's second term expired. He was then 
made minister to Rome by President Lincoln. In 1863, he was made assistant 
postmaster-general, and, upon the resignation of William Denninson, in 1865, 
was appointed postmaster-general by President Johnson. This oftice he held 
until the accession of President Grant in March, 1869. Mr. Randall then 
resumed the practice of law, but, because of failing health, was obliged to retire. 
In 1865, Mr. Randall removed from Waukesha to his old home at Elmira, New 
York, where he continued to reside up to the time of his death, which occurred 
on the 26th of July, 1872. 

Personally, as a jovial, friendly, fun-loving fellow, Mr. Randall probably 
had no equal. His witty sayings were famous for years. He was one of the first 
members of the secret organization called the "Ancient Evanic Order of I. O. O. 
I.," and was theauthor of many of the bright andludicrous "initiatory" ceremo- 
nies for which that order was renowned. He was familiarly known as "Aleck" 
and, though occupying such high positions of honor, was always the same 
warm-hearted and genial man to his many friends. 



WISCONSIN'S STATE GOVERNORS. 305 

("lovernor Bashford's administation having closed on the 4th day of Janu- 
ary, 1858, his successor, Alexander W. Randall, took the oath of office as 
governor upon that day. Among other important matters recommended in his 
message to the legislature which convened in January, 1858, he alluded to the 
alleged frauds and corrupt conduct by the legislature of 1856, in granting lands 
to aid in the construction of railroads by an act of congress approved June 3, 
1856. On January 21, 1856, a select committee of the assembly made a report 
and recommended and adoi)ted a resolution providing for the appointment of 
a committee, consisting of three members of the senate and five of the assembly, 
to investigate and incpiire into the alleged frauds and corrupt conduct of divers 
members of the legislature of 1856. The resolution was duly passed by the 
assembly, and concurred in by the senate, upon which the committee was duly 
appointed with the Hon. Dennison Worthington as its chairman. 

It a])pears that congress, in order to aid in the construction of railroads in 
Wisconsin, made two liberal land grants in June, 1856. One of the proposed 
lines was to run, either from Madison or Columbus via Portage City and the 
St. Croix river, to Bayfield, Lake Superior. The other contemplated line 
stretched northward from Fond du Lac to some point on the Michigan state 
line. Each alternate section of land designated by odd numbers four sections 
in width on each side of the contemplated railroad was to be given to the com- 
panies constructing them. The legislature accepted these grants in the fall of 
1856 from the general government; then commenced a struggle among the 
railroad magnates to capture the oftered prizes. The legislature decided, how- 
ever, not to give the lands thus ceded to any of the corporations already or- 
ganized, and proceeded to charter two new companies, one for each of the 
contemplated lines. The La Crosse and Milwaukee Railroad Company, 
created by this legislature, captured the grant for the road to Lake Superior, 
while the company styled The Wisconsin and Superior Railroad Company 
received the grant for the road from Fond du Lac northward. These com- 
panies were new in name only, as that collosal company which afterward 
became known as the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul was alleged to be back- 
ing one of the nestlings, while the corporation which grew into the Chicago and 
North-Western was said to be the i)aternal ancester of the other. It is unnec- 
essary to say that the grantees of the old incorporations soon absorbed the new 
ones. 

On May 13, 1856, the joint committee of investigation made a voluminous 
report, together with the testimony taken in the case. Many persons of high 
standing in both i)olitical parties were involved in the report. They reported 
that " the managers of the La Crosse and Milwaukee Railroad Company had 
been guilty of numerous and unparalleled acts of mismanagement, gross viola- 
tion of duty, fraud and plunder." They reported that thirteen senators, fifty- 



3o6 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

nine members of the assembly, the bank comptroller, lieutenant-governor, pri- 
vate ^secretary of the governor, three officials of the assembly, thirty-three 
prominent lobbyists and other prominent men, together with a judge of 
the supreme court, were implicated. They also reported, upon the evidence 
taken, that bonds and stocks at the par value of $175,000.00 were given or 
assigned to the senators, four of whom received the sum of $20,000.00, and 
the remainder $10,000.00 each, while, in the assembly, bonds and stocks were 
assigned to the value of $355,000.00, one member receiving $20,000.00, eight 
$10,000.00, and the remainder $5,000.00 each. The three state officials 
received $10,000.00 each, and the private secretary of the governor, $5,000.00. 

The report also contained a list giving figures indicating the number of 
bonds to the extent of $50,000.00, the receiver of which was indicated by 
dashes, which were intended to represent Governor Bashford. It was believed, 
at the time, that Governor Bashford was the only one who realized upon his 
bonds, as the La Crosse and Milwaukee Railroad Company failed to materialize 
and, in consequence, the bonds became valueless. 

On February 3, 1859, Ex-Governor Bashford requested the assembly to ap- 
point a committee to investigate the charges that had been preferred against him 
in the public i)rints and elsewhere. Upon receipt of a communication, the gov- 
ernor appointed a committee of five to examine witnesses, take evidence, and 
report upon the same. On the 9th of March, the committee reported that it 
had taken a large amount of testimony, relating to the charges brought against 
Ex-Governor Bashford, with reference to alleged bribery, and that it was of 
the unanimous opinion that the evidence showed that the fifty bonds referred 
to in the previous report of the investigating committee were received by Mr. 
Bashford, as a gratuity from the La Crosse company, after the grant had been 
disposed of, and without any previous understanding that he was to receive 
the same or any favor from the company. The committee in its report, how- 
ever, strongly disa])i)roved of the governor's acceptance of said gratuitity, or a 
similar acceptance by any public officer of favors from those having business 
relations of an official character. It cannot be said that this report detracted 
in any manner from the position the public had previously taken as to (Gov- 
ernor Bashford's guilt or innocence. 

Among the various bills introduced into the legislature during the session 
of 1858, was one introduced near the close of the session, for the temporary 
removal of the state capital to Milwaukee. The bill came up on May 15th, 
in the assembly, having been ordered to the third reading the day previous. 
On the first vote there was a tie, the speaker not voting. Mr. J. H. Knowl- 
ton, who opposed the l)ill, changed his vote for it which carried it, but im- 
mediately moved a reconsideration, which was carried by one majority. The final 
vote then resulted in an exact tie, and as it required a majority, the bill was lost. 



WISCONSIN'S STATE GOVERNORS. 307 

At the November elections, 1858, John F. Potter, C. C. Washburn, and 
Charles H. Larrabee were elected members of the Thirty-sixth congress. 
Potter and Washl)urn were Republicans, while Mr. Larrabee was a Dem- 
ocrat. 

Edward V. Whiton, the celebrated jurist, and chief justice of the Supreme 
Court of Wisconsin, died on April 12, 1859, at his residence in Janesville. On 
August 24, 1859, the Democratic state convention placed in nomination Har- 
rison C. Hobart for governor; A. S. Palmer, lieutenant governor ; A. B. 
Alden, secretary of state ; Lion Silverman, state treasurer; J. C. Squires, 
bank comptroller; Samuel Crawford, attorney general; L. C. Draper, super- 
intendent of public instruction, and H. C. Fleck, state prison commissioner. 

The Republican state convention met on August 31st, and placed in nom- 
ination Alexander W. Randall for governor; B. G. Noble, lieutenant-governor; 
L. P. Harvey, secretary of state; S. D. Hastings, state treasurer; James H. 
Howe, attorney general; G. Van Steenyck, bank comptroller ; J. L. Pickard, 
superintendent of public instruction, and H. C. Heg, state prison commissioner. 

At the November election, the whole Republican state ticket was elected. 
Governor Randall received 63,466, H. C. Hobart, 59,516, giving Governor 
Randall a majority of 3,950. 

Governor Randall and the balance of the state officers-elect were inaugu- 
rated on Monday, January 2, i860, at 11 A. M., at the assembly chamber. 
The oath of office was administered by Chief Justice L. S. LJixon, in the pres- 
ence of a large number of prominent citizens. 

The thirteenth annual session of the state legislature convened on January 
10, i860, and adjourned to April 2, i860. Governor Randall, in his message 
to the legislature, after (quoting statistics of a general nature, said : "It is a 
matter of congratulation, that the finances of the state are in so sound a con- 
dition. Unlike most new states, Wisconsin has paid for her j)ublic improve- 
ments without creating a permanent state debt for such purposes. The school 
fund, on the ist of October last, amounted to $3,001,297.30, producing on 
interest at seven percent., $210,090.81; and the amount to be appropriated 
in March next is $245,272.41. The University fund, at the same time 
amounted to $300,725.22, and the interest therefrom $21,050.76, which 
amount is the income of the University, adding $501.04, the balance in the 
^reasury. The swami)-land fund amounted to $988,712.88, and the interest, 
$69,209.90. The number of acres of land in the state, assessed last year, 
was 17,41 1,418, and the e(iualized valuation $6.78 per acre; the aggregate 
valuation of personal property is $13,607,893, and the total value of all prop- 
erty, as e([ualized, $168,620,233. ^^^^ total taxation levied last year was one 
and four-tenths mills on the dc^Uar valuation, producing in aggregate the sum 
of $234,310.11." 



3o8 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

The November election, in i860, was an exciting one. The RepubUcan 
electors received 86,110 votes, the Douglas electors, 65,025, the Breckinridge 
electors 881 ; and 161 votes for electors who favored John Bell for the presidency. 
The Republican majority was 21,089 o^'*^^ Douglas. The electors, at a meet- 
ing in the electoral college, cast their vote for Abraham Lincoln and Hannibal 
Hamlin. At this election, John F. Potter, Luther Hanchett and A. Scott 
Sloan, Republican candidates for congress, were elected, over John E. 
Arnold, J. D. Reymert, and Charles H. Larrabee, Democratic candidates. 
These candidates represented the First, Second and Third congressional dis- 
tricts. 

Tlie fourteenth session of the state legislature convened January 9, 1861, 
and adjourned April 17. Governor Randall, by proclamation, convened an 
extra session on May 15th. The governor's message was delivered, in per- 
son, before the two houses in joint convention. The message was an able 
and lengthy one, and contained recommendations and suggestions for the im- 
mediate consideration of the legislature at that session. The statistical review 
of the state's affairs, for the year previous, was voluminous. 

At this time the whole number of persons within the state, subject to mili- 
tary duty, exceeded 130,000. The governor recommended that steps betaken 
to place the vohmteer militia upon a more efficient footing. In conclusion he 
used the following language, with reference to the slavery question, then agitat- 
ing the minds of the people throughout the United States: " The hopes of 
civilization and Christianity are suspended now upon the answer to this ques- 
tion of dissolution. The capacity for, as well as the right of, self-government, 
is to pass its ordeal, and speculation to become certainty. Other systems have 
been tried, and have failed; and, all along, the skeletons of nations have been 
strewn as warnings and landmarks upon the great highway of historic govern- 
ment. Wisconsin is true, and her i)eople steadfast She will not destroy the 
union, nor consent that it shall be done. Devised by great, and wise, and 
good men in days of sore trial, it must stand. Like some bold mountain, at 
whose base the great seas break their angry floods, around whose summit the 
thunders of a thousand hurricanes have rattled, strong, unmoved, immovable, 
■so may our union be, while treason surges at its base, and passions rage around 
it. Unmoved, immovable, here let it stand forever." 

On May 17th, Governor Randall issued a proclamation in which he said : 
"For the first time in the history of this federal government, organized treason 
has manifested itself within several states of the union and armed rebels are 
making war against it. The proclamation of the President of the United 
States tells of unlawful combinations too powerful to be suppressed in the or- 
dinary manner, and calls for mililary forces to suppress such combinations, and 
to sustain them in executing the law. A demand made upon Wisconsin by 



WISCONSIN'S STATE GOVERNORS. 



309 



the president for aid to sustain the federal arms must meet with prompt re- 
sponse. One regiment of the mihtia of this state will be re([uired for military 
service, and further service will be required as the exigencies of the country- 
may demand. Opportunities will l)e immmediately offered to all existing mili- 
tary companies, under the direction of the proper authorities of the state, for 
enlistment to fill the demands of the government." 

The governor requested the patriotic citizens of the state to enroll them- 
selves into companies of seventy-eight men each, and to advise the executive 
of their readiness to be mustered into the service of the United States forthwith. 




Chapter XLI. 

Misconsin in the Civil Mai\ 

1 86 1 — 1865. 

'Jlie Call to Arms. — Wisconsin's Wonderful Response. — OneHundretl Thousand \'olun- 
teers. — .All Classes and Conditions Represented. — Sunday Service Suspended. — Wisconsin 
Women in the War. — The Christian and Sanitary Commissions. — Skulkers to Canada. — The 
Loyal League and the Knights of the Golden Circle. — The First Regiment Ordered to the 
Front. — They P^ngage and Drive the Enemy. — Anecdotes and Incidents. — The Old Iron 
lirigade. 

Into the immense armies and navies, on the union side, between the i6th 
day of April, 1861, and the same month in 1865, Wisconsin contributed nearly 
one hundred thousand of her loyal sons. 

It is impossible for even the most intelligent of the present generation to 
appreciate the material composing the numerous organizations of these won- 
derful human forces. 

Not infre(}uently, every civilized nation on the face of the earth was rep- 
resented in the rank and file of the same regiment. 

Every condition of social, religious and political faith, all the trades, occu- 
pations and professions were represented. The same tent covered the banker, 
luml)erman, medical student, lawyer, merchant and machinist. The million- 
aire's son touched elbows with the son of his father's hired man. 

When the war commenced Wisconsni had been a state scarcely twelve 
years, so that, comparatively si)eaking, only a kw of these volunteers were 
native born; while the sons of New England, and all other of the loyal states, 
who had settled there, helped to fill the quotas called. Eut whether born in 
America, or across the ocean, they were patriotic and proud of their new 
home, and the Badger commonwealth had no more gallant defenders on land 
or sea than those who were bred beyond her borders, or in foreign climes. 
The earlier volunteers were usually young men, the average age being less than 
twenty-five years. Such a variety, such a mixture of manual and mental 
strength, when harmonized and disciplined for eftbrt in a common cause, and 
that the cause of a generally-united country dedicated to freedom, against an 
unholy sectional rebellion to maintain human slavery, constituted a force which 
only needed wise leaders or commanders to become irresistible to all the com- 
bined armies of the world. 

311 



312 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

How THE News Came. 

It was Friday morning, April 12th, 186 1, when the slaveholders' rebellion 
first opened fire on the flag of the national government, flying fi-om Fort 
Sumter, in Charleston harbor, South Carolina. On the 14th (Sunday), Presi- 
dent Lincoln called for seventy-five thousand volunteers, to protect Washing- 
ton and the public property. Wisconsin's share, or quota, was fixed at one 
regiment of infantry. 

This call for troops was first heard of from the pulpits of the principal 
churches, at the close of the morning service, in the cities of Wisconsin having 
telegraphic communication, on April 14th, 1861. The effect of the announce- 
ment can hardly be told upon those who had persistently insisted, notwith- 
standing all the threats which had been made, that no American would ever 
open fire upon an American flag. Then came a palsied numbness, and from 
those of hotter temperament — those who had met the threat of secession with 
the counter-promise of hanging — there was instant willingness to make the 
promise good. 

The noon Sunday schools were not well attended by the older boys that 
day. They were out on the corners listening, thinking and talking, as they 
had not listened, thought nor talked before. There was very little loud expres- 
sion, and no boasting or cheers. The saloons were not patronized by even 
those who habitually frequented such resorts. There was a most ominous 
quietness among those who gathered on the streets from the different congre- 
gations. This semi-silence was more expressive than can well be described. 
It forbode a terrible storm. 

The Preceding Presidential Campaign, 

of the previous autumn and fall, had been waged with surprising vigor by the 
three contending parties. The organized marching columns constituted re- 
markable and conspicuous figures. They were usually composed of repre- 
sentative citizens, according to their respective political aftiliations, the country 
on horseback and the city on foot. It may be truthfully stated that they were 
the only practically organized forces in the country. They differed in politics, 
social condition, religion and business, but as a general rule they were all 
union men. They were not soldiers, but they were patriots. The shots at 
Sumter, and the president's call for volunteers to protect the national capital, 
harmonized, for the time being, all other differences. These were the men 
who consulted together that Sunday noontime. They united in sending dis- 
patches to Governor Randall, at Madison, tendering their services. The next 
morning (April i6th) that official was able to wire to the secretary of war that 
in place of one, Wisconsin tendered three regiments of infantry to the national 
government, and that they awaited muster-in and marching orders. 



WISCONSIN IN THE CIVIL WAR. 313 

The Distributiox of Those Who 

went out from the state to represent at the front the ])atriotism of its new and 
mixed population found such service for the maintenance of the national cause 
in seventy-four different organizations, besides those who did duty on the water 
as naval officers, seamen and marines. 

There were fifty-three regiments of infantry, besides one company formed 
of the most skilled riflemen, which was called Co. G, of the celebrated United 
States Kerdan Sharpshooters Regiment. Four regiments of cavalry, thirteen 
light batteries, and one full regiment of heavy artillery, besides a battalion of 
the last-named regiment, who at the expiration of their term of service, re- 
enlisted, and until the close of the war were known as such. The service of 
each of the.se will be given, so far ascan be, in the numerical order of their 
organization and departure from the state. 

Wisconsin's Tribute to the Navy Numbered 

more than one thousand able-bodied men, but because we had no seaport city, 
and, w'ith a single temporary exception, no recruiting station for such service, 
nearly all those who entered from Wisconsin had to leave the state to do so, 
and our commonwealth never received the credit from this class of enlistment. 
But this fact is known, that the Badger State was represented by one or more 
of her citizens on four hundred and eighty-seven different vessels, which served 
and fought on the union side. The names and experiences of the.se several 
boats, will be hereafter recorded. 

W1.SCONSIN Women in the War. 

Those who think that the union soldiers, in the south, won the final 
glorious victory by their own heroic efforts, are in error. They did their part, 
and did it splendidly. They could not have remained a single day before the 
enemy — much less four long years — except for that great supporting rear-line of 
battle at home. The great loyal north was always actively engaged in backing 
them up. 

Individual efibrts of men, women and children at home contributed their 
immeasurable weight to the national cause, while organizations in infinite num- 
ber aided the government in its great cause. Among the latter are conspicu- 
ously mentioned in all histories 

The Christian and Sanitary Commissions. 

While men of means i)Oured out their wealth most bountifully, it was the 
mothers, waives and sisters, who stirred men to organized action. None but a 
soldier or sailor, who, \vhen in grevious trouble, whether in camp, hospital, 
prison or on the march, has received the contributions of thoughtful women at 
home, can fully appreciate even a fractional part of what these two generous 



314 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

commissions did for tlie country's cause. Their record — although not as full 
as it should be made — will be found in its proper place in later pages. 

The Loyal League. 

The general government had its bitter enemies in large numbers scattered 
here and there among the loyal people of the north, and while such were not 
brave enough to go openly and fight on the side of slavery, they secretly or- 
ganized and in midnight meetings laid plans to discourage enlistments, and by 
the back-fire process aid the enemies of the union. They were principally 
known as "Knights of the Golden Circle," "Copperheads," and "Canada 
Skulkers." The surrender of the confederacy, and capture of all its archives, 
exposed the treason of all those who belonged to these several organizations — 
and the story is told for the first time, as far as Wisconsin citizenship is con- 
cerned, in the following pages. It constitutes one of the most interesting 
features of Wisconsin in the war. Some skipped to foreign parts, and were 
there relegated to the rear — for everybody hates a coward. Others through a 
vicious or mistaken theory as to state rights and the slavery issue, remained at 
home, frequently stabbing their own government ui the back. There were 
other individuals who were too pure, good and holy to take part on either side, 
or do anything except find fault with everybody and hide behind one excuse 
and another, and often behind the skirts of a slender woman. 

There was another class (or at least person) without mention and record 
of which no History of Wisconsin in the War would be complete, and it has 
never been given until now. At least one prominent citizen of the Badger 
State had the courage to fight for his convictions, although it required him to 
leave his home, enlist and serve in the army agamst his former neighbors, who 
were in the union army. Major Chas. H. Gardner, at the present time one 
of the prominent members of the legal profession, and a leading politician of 
the state, a man of great mental and physical vigor, believing that the southern 
idea was the right one and the most beneficial to the nation, voluntarily cut 
loose from his associates and business at Watertown, went to Kentucky, and 
enlisted as a private soldier in the confederate ranks, served through the war, 
receiving various promotions, and, after the war was over, returned to his 
Watertown home. 

The First (Three Months) Regiment, 
after its organization, went immediately into camp at Milwaukee, and 
shordy after left the state for Washington, eight hundred and ten strong. 
It is true that several of the ten companies were organized around a 
small nucleus of the remnants of a former state militia company, but a 
large majority of the volunteers were never members of a military 
company, and first saw an army musket and a military uniform at the 



WISCONSIN IX THE CIVIL WAR. 315 

camp in Milwaukee. I'he jjeople having for years followed peaceful i)ursuits, 
such an army as the present National Cuard, now so well known in nearly all 
the states, had no exi.stence in 186 1. 

But the public schools and colleges of the nation were more or less rep- 
resented in every mess. They learned quickly. They merited all the praises 
bestowed by army officers after their first engagement with the enemy, and 
the spontaneous and wonderful reception tendered them upon their return 
from the front. Nearly all re-entered the service for three years after the expi- 
ration of their short-term service in Virginia, during which, July 2d, 1861, at 
Falling \\'ater, \'a., they met and fought a victorious combat, driving the force 
of the celebrated " Stonewall " Jackson for miles beyond its selected position, 
cai)turing camps and prisoners. 

Col. John C. Starkweather was the commanding officer, and it has been 
well said that his confidence in his men was only equaled by their faith in him. 
He was over six feet tall, with elegant military bearing, and had so strong a 
voice that, ofttimes, amidst the rattle and ^oar of battle, the enemy heard the 
commands he gave to his brigade a full quarter of a mile away. He was a 
good disciplinarian, but recognized that his men, although able and willing to 
learn, were green antl unsophisticated, as the following illustrates: 

One of the volunteers, on a wet night, had been detailed as guard over 
some bales of hay. Having full confidence that the forage would not run 
away on such a stormy night, the soldier made a hole in the pile, crept in and 
slept. McCracken, for such was the guard's name, should have known that 
on such nights the colonel would be sure to visit all the sentinels and outposts, 
to praise the vigilant and punish those derelict in duty. After a restless nap he 
awoke only to find his gun gone ; the condition of his situation flashed upon 
him in an instant. Rushing oft" to his mess, he quickly secured another mus- 
ket, and aroused a comrade, to secure, if possible, the one taken from him, 
and which doubtless had been sent to regimental headquarters^ to be used as 
evidence against him, when summoned to arrest in the morning. The scheme 
worked, and when, three-quarters of an hour later, the colonel returned with 
a guard to take the place of the sleeper, McCracken brought the party to a 
sudden " Halt! who comes there?" 

" Look here, McCracken, where did you get that musket? Less than an 
hour ago I found you here asleep, and took yours away from you, now what 
do you think of it ?" 

" What do I think of it?" stammered the confused guard. 

" Yes, what do you think of it? That's the question for you to answer." 

" I think any d — d fool can rob a slee[nng man of his gun or anything 
else, without much credit to the robber." 



3i6 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

In the midst of an active, hot summer's campaign, the regiment was 
hurriedly marched through the streets of a southern city. 

"What dirty ragamuffin regiment is that?" asked a bystander on the 
walk, and within hearing of Starkweather, who instantly wheeled his horse to 
the speaker, and replied : 

"That's the dirty ragamuffin First Wisconsin, sir. By G-d, sir, I'm its 
commander, and if there is any man in it, who doesn't know more than you 
do, who isn't a better gentleman than you are, and who can't whip a dozen 
like you, I'll have him courtmartialed and shot." 

From scores which might be given, a single other incident will be here 
narrated. Col. Starkweather's elegant manners and social disposition brought 
him many invitations, and when oft" duty and in convivial company, he main- 
tained his leadership, sometimes to his own detriment. On one occasion a 
party of kindred spirits, from the different regiments of the brigade, were 
enjoying themselves, in the rear of the sutler's tent, and fell to discussing the 
merits of their respective colonels, each of course championing his own. One 
of them in the heat and enthusiasm of debate, alleged in detriment to the Wis- 
consin commander, that he sometimes got tipsy, and was promptly called 
down by the same McCracken, before named, who captured the house, and 
proved his fidelity to his colonel, by proclaiming that Starkweather drunk was 
a better officer than all the others put together when sober, and he stood ready 
to prove it, if the others would ever get sobered up. 

Reorganized for Three Years. 

After serving more than their enlistment called for, the (3 months) "First 
Regiment, being relieved by the Third Wisconsin, at Harper's Ferry, returned 
to Milwaukee, and were there mustered out August 21st, 1861. Many of 
them then, on the same day, re-enlisted in the Three Years First, among them 
the then veteran Col. Starkweather. All of those who returned from their 
short service were deemed veterans, and, as such, readily received commissioned 
or non-commissioned places in the regiments organized after their return. Seven 
full regiments had been sent out smce the first call, and in reorganizing, the origi- 
nal First would naturally have been designated as the Nmth Wisconsin Infantry. 
But Col. Starkweather insisted on holding his priority in regimental order, so 
that the new and reorganized First, Three Years Volunteers, maintained their 
place as No. i, while they were in fact the Ninth regiment organized for 
service. This fact has been omitted by official reports, and all histories of 
Wisconsin in the War. 

It is also worthy of note that more than 95 per cent, of the original 
list re-entered the service, and that to the 810 men who composed it, 
there were subsequently issued over 1,200 commissions, ranging from 



WISCONSIN IN THE CIVIL WAR. 317 

lieutenant to l)rigadier-general. Among the survivors after the war were 
men wlio occupied front ])ositions in civil, official life, governors of 
states, judicial officers, foreign ministers and national representatives. Such 
were the union volunteers of 1861-1865. 

It was a typical Wisconsin regiment, and much here narrated as to the 
material composing the same is ecpially applicable to every other organization. 
The service of the Three Years First will appear in its place later on, in its 
order with other regiments as they left the state for the front. 

The Badger Bov.s In Battle. 

It may l)e truly said, without danger of denial, that from July 2d, 1861, 
until the last confederate forces surrendered, May 26th, 1865, there were no 
important campaigns or battles in which Wisconsin had not its armed repre- 
sentatives actively engaged. 

Prior to the earlier date given there had been a few unimportant occupa- 
tions, reconnoissances and a few minor affairs, where shots were exchanged 
between union and secession forces, usually of a naval nature, wherein less 
than a hundred in total had l)een touched by lead or iron. 

The first cami)aign or organized movement against confeclerate forces, 
originated by General Scott, who (next to President Lincoln, was the com- 
mander-in-chief of all the national armies and navies), with full approval of 
the war department, sent General Patterson with a well-equipped column of 
32,000 men across the Potomac into the famous Shenandoah Valley of Vir- 
ginia, to threaten, attack, fight and beat General Jackson's army if he could, l)ut 
in any event to prevent him from reinforcing General Beauregard at Bull Run, 
when the union army under General McDowell should assault and seek to 
capture or annihilate the rebellious forces principally congregated there a few 
days later. 

Patterson crossed the river on the 2d of July, 1861, with the First Wiscon- 
sin infantry in the lead, and engaged and drove Jackson from his position at 
Falling Water, ten miles southward to Bunker Hill and Wmchester. This was 
the first time that Wisconsin troops met the enemy. The last shots fired by 
Wisconsin troo])s were at Talladega, Alabama, April 22d, 1865, by the Fourth 
Wisconsin, who, on Wilson's cavalry raid, captured the enemy and first 
Icartied that Lee had surrendered and the war was over. 

Facis To Be Re.membered. 

Before narrating the organization and service of other forces that went to 
the front from Wisconsin, it is worth while to call attention to a few conditions 
existing at the time. 

General Scott, who in 1861 was in command, was a firm believer in 
the infantry arm of tlie service for fighting the rebellion. He had no 



3i8 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

use for cavalry or batteries, or heavy artillery, except in extremely 
exceptionally cases. Hence the first calls made by the president on the 
loyal states were for regiments of infantry. All through the loyal north were 
thousands of horses and expert horsemen. In squads and squadrons they 
poured in tender of military service. The states in turn reported such offers to 
the general government and asked permission to organize cavalry and battery 
companies. They were declined. When Scott retired, McClellan, who suc- 
ceeded him, took a different and correct view. 

Again, it was the desire of Governor Randall, Wisconsin's first and splen- 
did war governor, that, as far as practicable, volunteers from each state should 
serve together. He called a meeting of the loyal governors to consider this 
and other questions in which all were mutually interested, with the hope of 
influencing the general government. The meeting was held, and favored the 
scheme, but the necessities were such that the secretary of war could not 
reasonably grant the recjuest made. The result was that in place of the west 
massing to take care of southwestern enemies, the east of southeastern rebels, 
and Ohio and Indiana of the foe in their nearest and immediate front, the 
Minnesota volunteers were transported to Virginia, and New England soldiers 
to Cairo, Illinois. However desirable or undesirable it may have been to mix 
up the troops in this way may never be known for certainty, but the shake of a 
dice-box could not have made the intermixture more complete. Train-loads of 
western troops and material going east, met and passed train-loads of men and 
material from the east going west. 

In response to public opinion and personal inclination, each state sent to 
the camps and battlefields sanitary and relief committees to attend the needs of 
the sick and wounded, who were scattered along thousands of miles of front, 
much of it not easy of access. Had the general government in its arrange- 
ments said to Wisconsin and the western states, "You look after the Missis- 
sippi valley; " to Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio, " Virginia is in your charge," 
emulation would have worked wonders, and the aggregate cost very nominal 
compared to what it was. 

The Iron Brigade. 

Governor Randall's efforts met with only slight success. But the endeavor 
at least demonstrated the wisdom of his advice. Hon. Rufus King, of Mil- 
waukee, was authorized to organize into a brigade such regiments as might 
arrive in Washington from Wisconsin. Ultimately the 2d, 6th and 7th Wis- 
consin, with two other western regiments, subsequently served under the same 
brigade commander, and the record made is without a parallel in the annals of 
the war. It missed no important campaign, and participated actively and suc- 
cessfully in every historic battle in Virginia and Maryland. It was always 



WISCONSIN IN THP: civil war. 319 

ready for a fight, and fought it to the finish. Its history is that of the Army of 
the Potomac, from the autumn of 1861 to the final surrender at Appomattox in 
April, 1865. 

On its battle-flags are inscribed, among others, such well-known bloody 
fields as Rappahannock Station, Gainesville, Second l)ull Run, South Moun- 
tain, .Antietam, Fredericksburg, Fitzhugh Crossing, Chancellorsville, (iettys- 
burg, Wilderness, Spottsylvania, Cold Harbor, Petersburg, Weldon Railroad, 
Reams Station and Appomattox. In a letter to a Wisconsm comrade, Gen- 
eral (ieorgeB. McClellan, among other things, thus speaks of the Iron Brigade. 

"No one remembers your heroic deeds and soldierly bearing more 
clearly, and with greater pride, than does your old commander, who always 
numbers you as among the very best of the brave soldiers with whom he had 
the honor of associating." 

It was never better commanded than when in charge ot (General Edward 
S. Bragg, who went out as captain in the Sixth Wisconsin, and by successive 
promotions for soldierly conduct and ability, reached the rank of brigadier- 
general. 




Chapter XLII. 

Wisconsin's Infantry Regimknts. 
1861— 1865. 

Organization of the First, Second, Third, Fourth and Fifth Regiments. — Campaigns and 
Flngagements. 

Thk First Wisconsin Infantry Reglment. 

Mustered into service October 8th, 1861. 

Mustered out of service October 21st, 1864. 

Campaigned in Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia. 

Engagements: Granny White Pike; Brainbridge Ferry; Munfords- 
ville; Chaplin Hills; Stone's River; Chickamauga; Lookout Mountain; 
Mission Ridge; Resaca; Dallas; Kenesaw Mountain; Peach Tree Creek; 
Atlanta. 

Original strength, 945. Total strength, 1,508. Death loss, 335. Killed 
and wounded, 386. 

F>eing ordered to report to General W. T. Sherman, at Louisville, Ken- 
tucky, this regiment, after having returned from its brief but victorious four- 
months campaign in Virginia, moved from old " Camp Scott " in Milwaukee, 
October 28th, 1861, and found its brigade-commander. Gen. W. T. Sherman, 
the same officer who had lead the Second Wisconsin into battle at the First 
lUill Run, in July 1861. By way of Salt River, Elizabethtown and Bacon 
Creek, it went into camp at Munfordsville, Tennessee. 

The middle of February, via Bowling Green, the regiment marched to- 
wards Nashville, and arrived March 2, 1862 ; a week later it met the enemy. 
Shortly afterwards, its colonel was assigned to command the brigade, which 
performed severe marching and fatigue duty, often having minor brushes with 
the confederates in the meantime. The battle of Chaplin Hills, or Perryville, 
was fought October 8th, 1862, where the regiment was for long hours in the 
severest of the two-days battle, in which it cost one hundred and fifty in 
killed and wounded. Three months later, December 30th, Starkweather's 
brigade, at Murfreesboro, assailed the confederates, reca])turing an immense 
supply and ammunition train which had been surrendered to the rebel 
(ieneral Wheeler's cavalry forces, and with the prisoners, trains and guns there 
taken, the First moved forward to take part in one of the most desperate and 
decisive engagements of the war — Stone's River — moving into line at mid- 
night, December 31st, and holding the position assigned, under constant fire 
of the enemy, January ist, 2d, 3d and 4th. 

321 



322 H1S1M)RV OF WISCONSIN. 

After this prolonged battle, the regiment, while doing active duty com- 
mon to our soldiers while in the enemy's country, was not again in serious 
conflict with the rebels until the enemy, having secretly massed its most 
veteran troops from the east, south and west, assailed the union army, with 
fully two men on the confederate side to one on the union side, at Chica- 
mauga. The confederate general, iiraxton 15ragg, had in his command one 
hundred thousand men, most of whom hatl seen previous service, and nearly 
one half being j)aroled ])risoners cai)tured at Vicksburg and elsewhere, who 
had never been exchanged. To meet these tried and battle-scarred men, the 
union general had barely fifty thousand men in line, which included five of 
AVisconsin's decimated regiments, among them the First. 

This vital contest opened during a dense fog on Saturday morning, Sep- 
tember 19, 1863, and continued until the night of the 20th, with a total loss on 
both sides of nearly thirty-five thousand men, substantially ecjually divided 
except that the enemy, as the assailing party, suffered a small i)ercentage in 
excess of half. It was a fight to the finish, with charges and counter-charges, 
retreats and advances, giving and gaining ground, in which brave men on each 
side showed their nietle, and others their lack of that element. While at Perry- 
ville, the regiment met a loss of fifty jjer cent, of its meml)ers ; here it ecjualled 
eighty per cent, before the overwhelming forces of the confederates who were 
successfully resisted and driven back. It was a battle against heavy odds, 
and the minority won. It was the staying (luality of the north against the hot 
dash of the south, the dash that swejjt almost everything before it the first day 
of the fight, but which had exhausted itself before the second day's battle was 
over. Although not in conflict, the First, as a supporting regiment, is entitled 
to its share of the victory at Mission Ridge, won under the command of (Gen- 
eral Joe Hooker, November 25th, 1863, sometimes called the "Battle Above 

the Clouds." 

Then the F'lrst was hastened forward to relieve Uurnside, who was entrapped 
at Knoxville. but the enemy having taken fliight, the regiment hastened on 
towards Adanta with Sherman, first engaging the enemy at Resaca, then at 
Dallas, afterwards at Kenesaw Mountain, Peach Tree Creek, Jonesboro and 
Atlanta. 

Its term of service having recently expired, it was shortly afterwards 
mustered out, excepting some veterans and recruits, who were transferred to 
the Twenty-first Wisconsin, ami the regiment i)roper returned to Wisconsin 
during October, 1863, and closed its record as an organization. 
The Second Wisconsin Infantry Reoiment. 

Mustered into service June 11, i86i. 

Mustered out of service July 2, 1864. 

Campaigned in \'irginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland. 



WISCONSIN IN THE CIVIL WAR. 323 

Kngagements : First Bull Run, Blackburn's Ford, Gainesville, South 
Mountain, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Wilderness, Si)otts3'lvania, Laurel Hill, 
Hatcher's Run, Weldon Railroad, Petersburg. 

Original strength, 1,051. Total strength, 1,266. Death loss, 261. 
Killed and wounded in action, 787. 

This was the first three-year regiment to reach Washington. It had been 
organized and equijjped (excejjt arms) by the state before any call had been 
made on the governor for another regiment. When that call came, it was for 
three-years instead of three-months men. Excepting a single company, it re- 
enlisted for the longer term, and the place of the excused company was at 
once filled. On the 20th of June, 1861, it left the state, and just a month 
later to a day, as apart of Colonel Wni. T. Sherman's brigade, made a splen- 
did record during the unfortunate First Bull Run fight. Limited space pre- 
vents the details of the marvelously heroic service rendered by this regiment 
on this dreadful field. Mistaking orders and without officers to command, it 
was the first to meet and resist the onslaught of Jackson's fresh troops, those 
who had escaped from Patterson in the Shenandoah, the very men whom the 
First Wisconsin had only a few days before driven from their isolated position 
and captured their camps. 

General Patterson's failure to destroy or follow Jackson's rebel force doubt- 
less lost the first battle of Bull Run to the federal cause. Had the \\'isconsin's 
earliest regiment been permitted to assail the enemy on the rear when Jack- 
son's troops, as fresh troops fell upon the Second Wisconsin in its eighth hour 
of active and severe battle on the bloody crest of Bull Run, which had been 
cai)tured and recaptured three times during the day, at frightful cost, and was 
in possession of the rebels when Jackson's rebel column who had escaped from 
Patterson's command drove them from the prize so often gained, a different 
result might have been witnessed. 

Its heroism and fighting qualities are attested by its frightful losses in 
scores of l)attles, for, when mustered out of service, it numbered only one hun- 
dred and thirty-three all told. No other union regiment has a record like this. 
The commanding general of the cori)s, departing from the usual policy, issued 
a special order from which the following sentences are here selected : 

"Three years ago you entered the service more than a thousand strong. 
You have never failed in any duty required of you. You have a right, and 
your state has a right, to be i)roud of the record you have made, in camp, in 
campaign and in battle. Those living honor the memory of the dead, and the 
memory of those dead honors the living." 

The history of the '' Iron lirigade," heretofore outlined, and the Sixth and 
Seventh regiments following, substantially give the record of the Second, after 
the first lUiU Run fight, for they constituted a most material f:ictor of that 
famous ortranization. 



324 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

This regiment being so sorely reduced at the expiration of its three-years' 
service, made no attempt to veteranize the new recruits, whose enhsted term 
not having expired, were assigned to and served in the Sixth Wisconsin regi- 
ment, while the remnant, less than one hundred in number, of the battle- 
scarred Second, were mustered out of their never-to-be-forgotten heroic service, 
July 2, 1864, amidst the batdes and scenes they had so bravely made historic. 

Third Wisconsin Infantry Regiment. 

Mustered into service, i86r. 

Mustered out of service, 1865. 

Campaigned in Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York City, Ala- 
bama, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina. 

Engagements: Bolivar, Winchester, Cedar Mountain, Strasburg, Antie- 
tam, Kelly's Ford, Chancellorsville, Beverly Ford, Gettysburg, Resaca, Dallas, 
Powder Springs Grove, Peach Tree Creek, Atlanta, Savannah. 

Original strength, 979. Total strength, 2,156. Death loss, 247. Killed 
and wounded in battle, 636. 

Rendezvoused at Fond du Lac, and departed for the front from there, 
just as the First had done from Milwaukee, and the Second from Madison- 
Charles S. Hamilton, was its colonel, he having been graduated at West Point, 
and served as a company officer in the Mexican war. No one ever 
questioned his bravery, for he was in conflict with some one all the time. 
His associates suggested promomotion to cure the malady, and he was 
ultimately made a major-general. He resigned repeatedly, in fact, once too 
often. The attempt of his many friends to get him back into the service 
failed, the war progressing to a successful termination without his help. His- 
son, who was not born when the war commenced, is a prominent practitioner 
before the courts, and a member of the military order of the Loyal Legion. 

It was a most excellent regiment. Relieving the First Wisconsin at the 
expiration of its short term of service, at Harper's Ferry in August, 1861, and 
after dispersing the rebel legislature at Frederick, Maryland, it served with the 
army ot the Shenendoah, having frequent engagements with the enemy, 
always doing its full duty, advancing and retreating up and down that beauti- 
ful valley of Virginia, as the fortunes of war favored, first one and then the 
other side. Its repeated losses were so severe, that at the close of the battle of 
Antietam, whither it had been rushed to help McClellan save W\\shington 
from Lee's invasion of Maryland, less than fifty men were able to do duty. 
This was September 17, 1862. Thereafter, the regiment was a part of the 
Army of the Potomac, and participated in all its campaigns and battles, in- 
cluding Chancellorsville and Gettysburg, until August i, 1S63, when it was. 
sent to New York city to suppress the draft riots. 



WISCONSIN IN THE CIVIL WAR. 325 

Soon after, the Twelfth corps to which it belonged, was by order assigned 
to the Army of the Cumberland, and the regiment lost all connection with the 
eastern army. In Alabama and Tennessee it bore its share of the military 
operations until Christmas, when, having veteranized, the officers and men re- 
turned to the state on the prescribed thirty-days' furlough. Ky recruits and 
returns, the regiment numbered nearly six hundred men in February 1864, 
when it rejoined its brigade, then in Georgia, and began that famous "Sher- 
man's March to the Sea," which resulted in the surrender of the last rebel 
army of any proportions. Its heroism elsewhere was superb, and its Ios.ses 
dreadful. It was the only regiment on whose blood-stained banners could 
properly be inscribed some of those most important battles fought by those 
two widely separated-armies, the Potomac and the Cumberland. 

Thk Fourth Wisconsin Infantry and Cavalry Regiment. 

Mustered into service, July 15th, 1861. 

Mustered out of service, May 28, r866. 

Campaigned in Maryland, Virginia, Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama^ 
Georgia, Texas. 

Engagements : Quarantine, New Orleans, (irand Gulf, Bayou Black, 
Baton Rouge, Bayou Teche, Brashier City, Port Hudson, Clinton, Liberty, 
Highland Stockade, Laredo. 

Original strength, 1,047. Total strength, 2,305. Death loss, 350. 
Killed and wounded in battle, 211. 

The reader should remember that Wisconsin, during the first two years of 
the war, prepared in advance for expected calls for troops. Within the re- 
quired time to fill a (^uota, its regiments in numerical order went forward during 
1861, excepting the Ninth and Twelfth, which although organized and ready, 
did not get away until January, 1862. According to population and calls, this 
response is without precedent among the other states. 

Both Infaniry and Cavalry. 

No regiment had a more varied experience than the Fourth. It was 
organized at Racine, each company from a different locality, and with a differ- 
ent name, the "Oconto River Drivers" being one of the ten. From a personal 
acquaintance with many of the survivors, the writer may truthfully say, it is 
difficult to describe any one of them. Its colonel, Paine (repeatedly under 
arrest for msubordination or disobedience of orders), subsequently became a 
brigadier-general, and afterwards served six years in congress, while an enlisted 
man (Geo. W. Carter), by successive promotions became a colonel, and served 
six years in the state prison, as superintendent and manager. These may be 
regarded as " samples." 



326 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

While it is also true that the First, Second and Third cavalry regiments 
from the state, were organized (in a hap-hazard way) the next became the 
Fourth cavalry without any such action. 

The regiment, as infantry, went from its camp at Racine direct to Balti- 
more, Maryland, and in that vicinity performed various guard duties, with 
occasional excursions against the enemy, until the 19th of February, 1862, 
when it embarked in crowded transports, and a month later, after great suffer- 
ing, during which many were buried at sea, took part in the capture of New 
Orleans, being the second regiment to land after the surrender of the city. It 
was actively engaged in various expeditions, against Vicksburg, Baton Rouge, 
Grand Gulf, Carrolton, and other places and camps held by the rebels, whom 
it often engaged and drove; the last important and severe engagement in which 
the regiment took part, as infantry, being on the 12th of April, 1863, at Bayou 
Teche, where the enemy, mostly cavalry, fell back under cover of darkness. 
It was a stern chase, with Wisconsin infantry following Texas horsemen, and 
the Fourth was ordered to skirmish the surrounding country and secure horses 
and such equipments as could be found. In three days it was mounted and 
again in pursuit. This exploit has no parallel in history. On the 7th of May, 
1863, it entered Alexandria, as the enemy vanished from the other .side of town. 
Conflicts and skirmishes continued for months, many prisoners and considera- 
ble property being captured. 

June jst, following, it was attached to General Grierson's cavalry com- 
mand, and thenceforward took part in that fearless rider's excursions and expe- 
ditions against bands of guerrillas, that so long infested the country. Subse- 
quently, during the same year, the state supplied the regiment with full cavalry 
equipments, and it is known on official records as the Fourth cavalry. As 
such it served in the states of Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama and Texas, 
reaching as far south as the Mexico Ime. It was nearly always in the sad- 
dle and never met defeat. 

Congress having enacted that no troops could be used to return escaped 
slaves to their former masters. Colonel Paine, on that ground, refused to obey 
the order of his superior officer by which every regiment was directed to expel 
from within its lines all colored refugees. The masters stood on the outside 
ready to re-enslave and convey back to bondage all who might be thus forced 
out. For this he was arrested, but the order was modified so as to permit him 
to take command of his men whenever an active campaign or battle was under 
way. The danger or emergency over, the order again deprived him of his 
command, and this sort of thing was permitted to go on for months. Mean- 
time, no slaves were driven from the protecting folds of the Fourth Wisconsin 
banners. 



WISCONSIN IN THE CIVIL WAR. 327 

The Fifth Wisconsin Infantry Rechment. 

Campaigned in Virginia, Maryland, New York City, Pennsylvania. 

Engagements : Williamsburg, Fair Oaks, Savage Station, Crampton Gap, 
.\ntietam, Marye's Heights, Bank's Ford, Gettysburg, Rappahannock Station, 
Locust Grove, Wilderness, Chancellorsville, Spottsylvania, Cold Harbor, 
Petersburg, Charleston, Cedar Creek, Hatcher's Run, Ft. Fisher, A])pomattox. 

Original strength, 1,058. Total strength, 2,285. Killed, 285. Wounded. 
227. 

This regiment went into its first camp at Madison, Wisconsin (Camp 
Randall), the latter part of June, 1861, and left for the front a month later, 
arriving at Washington the third day following its departure. Here, on the 
Virginia side of the Potomac, it remained performing the usual duties until the 
commencement of McClellan's operations in the spring of 1862, then, with that 
noted general, took an active part, being engaged in the campaign with the 
enemy as often as any other organization, and always with glory to its name. 
The unfortunate Peninsula campaign having been brought to an end, the Fifth 
left its camp near ^\'ashington, September 6th, 1862, and marched to the battle- 
field of Antietam, and did its full share in driving back Lee's army from its first 
invasion of northern soil. 

At Marye's Heights, near Fredericksburg, on the 3d of May, 1863, the 
regiment performed prodigies of valor in that long and desperate struggle, 
which no historian can ever fully narrate. 

A month later, Lee again invaded the north, and the Fifth was hurried 
forward to oppose the rebel general's advance on Washington. It was present 
at the famed battle of Gettysburg, where the rebellion received the most ser- 
ious blow dealt during the war, and from the effects of which it never recov- 
ered. 

After .serving in New York city in suppressing the so-called draft riots, 
until the latter part of October, 1863, the troops were returned to Virginia, 
and at Rappahannock Station, on the 7th of November, fought a hard battle, 
capturing many of the enemy with much field artillery. 

The next serious engagement was at the Wilderness, May 5-7, 1864, dur- 
ing which three day's battle the contending forces met with greater losses than 
in any other conflict of the Civil War. 

From this time on, the Army of the Potomac fought as a unit and our 
Fifth was always with it at Cold Harbor, Petersburg, Weldon Railroad, Ream's 
Station. On July nth, 1864, by transjjorts it moved to Washington for the 
protection of the capital, which was then menaced by a confederate column. 
After the danger was over, most of the men, whose term of service had pre- 
viously expired, returned to Wisconsin, where they re-organized, and, October 



128 



HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 



2d, 1864, again started for Virginia. After campaigning in the Shenandoah 
Valley, under Sheridan, they again joined the forces about Petersburg, taking 
part in the fight at Hatcher's Run, in February, 1865, and in the movements 
under General Sheridan, which culminated in the final surrender of all the con- 
federate forces. They moved to Washington and took part in the grand 
review. Here a portion of the regiment was sent home for muster out, while 
the balance accompanied the Sixth corps to Louisville, Kentucky, reaching 
Madison, Wisconsin, July 13th, and was discharged. 





Purity. 



Chapter XLIII. 
WISCONSIN IN THE CIVIL WAR. 

Tlie Oganization, Campaigns and Engagements of tlie Sixlli, Seventh, Eighth, Ninth 
and Tenth Infantry Regiments. 

Sixth and Seventh Wisconsin Infantry Re(;iments. 

Sixt/i — Mustered in, July i6th, 1861. 

Mustered out, September 16, 1865. 

Seventh — Mustered in, July 14, 1861. 

Mustered out, July 3d, 1865. 

Campaigned in Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Kentucky. 

Engagements: Rappahannock Station, Gainesville, Second Eull Run, 
South Mountain, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Fitz Hugh Crossing, Chancel- 
lorsville. Brandy Station, (Gettysburg, Buckland, Wilderness, Laurel Hill, Cold 
Harbor, Petersburg, Kurnside's Mine, Ream's Station, Weldon Railroad, 
Poplar Springs Church, Hatcher's Run, Five Forks, Appomatox. 

Sixth — Original strength, 1,000. Total strength, 2,143. Death loss, 
321. Killed and wounded, 6ji. 

Seventh — Original strength, 1,029. Total strength, 1,193. Death loss, 
391. Killed and wounded, 764. 

These two regiments, from their inception until their muster out, have 
such a unity of service history as to make almost either a repetition of the 
other. T'he earlier numbered left camp at Madison, Wisconsin, July 28th, 
and the latter September 21st, both headed for Washington, and both were 
assigned to Col. King's Wisconsin "Iron Brigade." As Gen. Robert Lee 
said to a remnant of the Army of Northern Virginia, when bidding it fare- 
well after the surrender of Appomatox, in April, 1865, "We have fought 
through the war together," so each of these regiments could have said to the 
other. From the actual beginning of the Army of the Potomac, with its mag- 
nificent history of discipline, hardships, marchings, mistakes, campaigns, 
battle defeats and victories, these two unsurpassed regiments could salute and 
embrace every other militay organization that thus early became a component 
part of its wonderful forces, whether' infantry, artillery or cavalry, from the 
East or the West, and also truthfully say, "We have fought through the war 
together." The history of the Army of the Potomac has been often and ably 

32!) 



33° HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

written. There is recorded the service of the Sixth and Seventh Wisconsin 
better than can be told here. "They are equal to the best troops in any army 
in the world" are the words of the commanding general (McClellan), after the 
battle of Antietam. This record they maintained until the close of the war. 
It will be remembered that the Second Wisconsin also fought through the 
war with the Sixth and Seventh. These three regiments were dissolved at 
Madison, in July, 1865, having inscribed on their tattered banners in number 
more bloody battles than any other three organizations which left the state. 

The Eighth Wisconsin Infantry Regiment. 
(Eagle Regiment.) 

Mustered in, September 14, 1861. 

Mustered out, September 5th, 1865. 

Campaigned in Mississippi, Tennessee, Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, 
Kansas, lUinois, Alabama. 

Engagements: Fredericktown, New Madrid, Island No. 10, Farmington, 
Corinth, luka, Jackson, Mechanicsburg, Richmond (La.), Vicksburg, Browns- 
ville, Henderson's Hill, Sabine Cross Roads, Pleasant Hill, Clouterville, Man- 
surra, Lake Chicot, Nashville, Spanish Fort. 

Original strength, 973. Total strength, 1,643. Death loss, 255. Killed 
and wounded in battle, 288. 

Left Camp Randall, Madison, October 12, 1861. In addition to the 
splendid appearance it everywhere made, unusual attention was attracted from 
the fact that it took with it a live eagle, captured in the forests of Wisconsin, 

The eagle known as "Old Abe" was captured in the spring of 1861, in Chippewa Co., 
Wis., by an Indian named A-ge-mah-me-ge-zhig, of the La Flambeau tribe. The Indian sold 
the eagle to Mr. D. McCann for a bushel of corn. Mr. McCann took him to Chippewa Falls, 
and from there to Eau Claire. The eagle then being about two months old, he sold it for 
$2.50 to Co. C, Eighth Wisconsin regiment. This company was commanded by Captain 
J. E. Perkins, which left for Madison on September 6, 1861. Upon their arrival, the eagle, 
which had been decorated with red, white and blue ribbons, and a rosette of many colors on 
his breast, took hold of one of the small flags attached to his perch and carried it in his beak 
to the colonel's quarters. 

Captain Perkins named the eagle "Old Abe," in honor of Abraham Lincoln. By vote 
the Eau Claire Badgers changed its original name to Eau Claire Eagles, and were thereafter 
known as the Eagle regiment. 

"Old Abe" was seen in all his glory when the regiment was engaged in battle. At 
such times he was always found in his place at the head of Go. C. In the midst of the roar- 
ing of cannon, the crack of the musket, and the roll of smoke, Old Abe, with spread pin- 
ions, would jump up and down on his perch, uttering wild and fearful screams. The fiercer 
and louder the storm of battle, the fiercer, wilder and louder the screams. Old Abe was 
with the command in nearly every action — about twenty-two battles and sixty skirmishes. It is 
a remarkable fact that not a color or eagle-bearer was shot. 

Old Abe was given to the state of Wisconsin, where he lived at the capitol for many years. 



WISCONSIN IN THE CIVIL WAR. 331 

and which remained with the command during its entire campaign, being con- 
stantly on duty while on the march and in battle. The bird was named " Old 
Abe," and the organization early received, and to this day bears, the sobriquet 
of the " Eagle Regiment." 

By the way of St. Louis, the Eighth reached the enemy first at Pilot 
Knob. The battle there opened with an artillery duel, but the union forces, 
after an hour and a half of desperate charges and countercharges, succeeded 
in winning a complete victory. This is known as the battle of Fredericktown. 
From this time on the experience of the Eighth was substantially that of the 
other active regiments located in the South and Southwest ; drilling and disci- 
plining in camp ; on guard and e.KCursion duty. Such was the industry and 
pride of both officers and men, that they reached unusual proficiency at an 
early period of their service. From Pilot Knob, after marching two hundred 
and fifty miles to Farmington, the regiment became part of the Army of the 
Mississippi. On the gth of May, 1862, the advance line of the division was 
assailed by the enemy, who were successfully resisted by this regiment, after 
suffering a loss of nineteen, including two officers. On the 28th, while sup- 
porting a battery at Corinth, the rebels made a fierce assault to capture it, and 
turn the right flank of the union army, but were handsomely repulsed by the 
fLighth regiment, which showed extraordinary bravery. 

The latter part of August, the brigade moved by the way of Tuscumbia to 
luka, which was occupied by a strong rebel force under Price. Colonel Mur- 
phy, commanding the federal advance, abandoned the expedition with- 
out destroying the army stores, for which he was placed under arrest. 
On the 19th, Ceneral Hamilton, of Wisconsin, being in command, led the ad- 
vance and drove the enemy, during which the Eighth Wisconsin, although in 
reserve, suffered .some loss. It joined in pursuit of the enemy as far as Aber- 
deen, then it was ordered to Corinth, arriving on the 5th of October, at a 
critical period during that decisive battle, losing ninety men during the day. 
.•\fter a brief rest, it moved to (irand Junction as a part of the campaign against 
Vicksburg. At this time the Eighth regiment was in the extreme advance of 
(irant's army. We next find it at (iermantown, Tennessee, building fortifica- 
tions and doing usual active campaign duty. It was shifted on March nth to 
Memphis, thence to Helena, Youngstown, Hard Times Landing and Raymond, 
always busy in a general movement to drive the enemy into Jackson, from 
which position, on the 14th of May, 1864, it was forced to retire, and the 
capital of Mississippi fell into union hands, the Eighth being detailed as 
provost guard to destroy the confederate stores. A few days later, it moved to 
Walnut Hill having the extreme right of the forces investing Vicksburg. 

On the 2 2d, it constituted a part of the assaulting forces, and so gallant 
was its action that complimentary orders were is.sued. It suffered a loss of 



332 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

nineteen men. On the 25th, with the brigade, the regiment made an expedi- 
tion to capture a large amount of live stock, destroy grain supplies and cotton 
depots. Returning safely to Maine Bluff; thence by the Yazoo river to 
Mechanicsville, the regiment engaging a force of cavalry and eventually driv- 
ing them from their position. 

On the 14th of June, Youngs Point was captured with slight loss. Here 
the Eighth remained on severe and dangerous duty, being continually exposed 
to the fire of the enemy until the surrender of Vicksburg. A large number of 
the regiment, at the expiration of its three years' term, re-enlisted; but in place 
of the veterans returning home for the expected furlough, they took jjart in the 
well-known Red river expedition. At Henderson's Hill they successfully at- 
tacked the enemy in fortifications, and captured prisoners to the number of three 
hundred and fifty, with much material. At the battle of Lake Chicot, the regi- 
ment sufiered a loss of nineteen men. After marching to Columbia, Arkansas, 
the re-enlisted veterans were permitted to return to their homes, and having 
made their thirty days' visit, went back to the front, and were next seriou.sly 
engaged at the battle of Nashville, where the regiment lost sixty-two men. 
After the pursuit of the flying enemy, the Eighth embarked for the investment 
of Mobile, and took position in the trenches before Spanish Fort, which they 
assisted to reduce. The war then being over, the regiment were furnished 
transportation to Madison, Wisconsin, and, reaching there on the 21st of Sep- 
tember, was formally disbanded. 

The Ninth Wisconsin Infantrv Regiment. 

Mustered in, October 26, 1861. 

Mustered out, January 30, 1864. 

Campaigned in Mi.ssouri, Kansas, Indian Territory, Arkansas. 

Engagements: Newtonia, Cane Hill, Prairie Grove, Terre Noire, Poison 
Springs, Jenkin's Ferry. 

Original strength, 870. Total strength, 1,422. Death loss, 175. Killed 
and wounded in action, 176. 

Immediately upon the first call upon Wisconsin for volunteers to aid in 
suppressing the rebellion, the patriotic Germans of Wisconsin made an appeaj 
to the governor for permission to raise a German regiment. The request was 
ultimately granted and Camp Sigel, at Milwaukee, was named as the place of 
rendezvous. From August, 1861, to Janur-y 22, 1862, the regiment received 
instrucdon in this camp, and at the latter date proceeded under orders to Kansas 
City, crossing the Missouri river on the ice, and arriving at Kansas City, Feb- 
ruary 26th, 1862, after a inarch of nearly two hundred miles. The regiment 
then went into camp at Fort Scott, Kansas. During the summer it marched 
into Indian territory, where the confederates were actively engaged enlisting 



WISCONSIN IN THE CIVIL WAR. 333 

the various Indian tribes to join the Southern cause, and where\er a camp of 
the rebels had been organized for these purposes the Ninth was sent to take 
possession, or destroy. Many of the tribes, when pushed, voluntarily sur- 
rendered themselves and the arms which they had been furnished. 

Much of the country was desolate as a desert. The heat extreme and the 
water unhealthy. The regmient suffered at times also for want of provisions, 
which the (juartermaster was unable to furnish. Much of the distress was 
caused by the incom])etency of the commander of the expedition, which re- 
sulted in his arrest b)- a subordinate officer, during the middle of July, 1862, 
and Colonel Salomon, of the Ninth Wisconsin, was put in command of the 
expedition. 

In hopes of ca])turing a large body of rebels on the border of the Mis- 
souri, on the 14th of August, the regiment was loaded into wagons and wheeled 
across the country, a distance of over three hundred miles, only to find that 
the game had taken alarm and escaped, while the disappointed regiment was 
forced to retrace its route. About this time was organized the Army of the 
Frontier, cind General Salomon was i^laced in command of a brigade. At New- 
tonia, Missouri, four thousand of the foe were entrenched, and a battalion of 
the Ninth, with a section of artillery and a squadron of cavalry, were ordered 
out on a reconnoissance to- feel of and determine their strength. One hundred 
Indians were with the federal column. Protected behind their entrench- 
ments, the enemy refrained from any ojjposition until the Ninth was within 
thirty paces, when they delivered a murderous fire, comi)elling our men to re- 
tire, which they did, repulsing, however, the rebels who followed, with a counter- 
charge. ^^'hile meeting this onset the enemy's cavalry, by rapid marching 
through a strip of woods, secured a position in the rear of our troops, captur- 
ing nearly two hundred of them, while the cavalry and batteries escaped. In 
October following, a second attack was planned and while in execution the 
rebels evacuated the place. The union column ])ursued them across the 
Arkansas line, one hundred and twenty miles. In December, (General Hin- 
man's forces we were ordered to drive all union men from Arkansas, and the 
battle of Prairie Grove was fought. The action was not decisive either way 
except to show the enemy the impossibility of accomplishing its mission. The 
losses on both sides were frightful, and both armies fell back during the night 
following the battle, but the federals returned and occupieil the battlefield, 
upon learning of the enemy's retrea/j. The Ninth celebrated New Years, in 
company with the Twentieth Wisconsin, on the regained batUefield. The 
regiment was now engaged in driving out guerrillas from the Arkansas border 
into Texas, and after several campaigns and hundreds of miles of arduous 
marching, went into winter (juarters, at Little Rock, Arkansas, and joined Gen- 
eral Steele's seventh army cor{)s. 



334 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

Early in January, 1864, a large part of the regiment re-enlisted as veter- 
ans, one company being detailed to serve as artillery. The famous and dis- 
asterous Red river expedition, under General Banks, was supported by this 
regiment, which frequently engaged with the enemy, and was continuously en- 
gaged in the extraordinary service of that eventful campaign. Being cut off 
from the line of retreat, the battle of Jenkin's Ferry ensued, during which, in 
protecting the crossing, the regiment displayed great bravery, and was com- 
plimented by the general in command in special orders. The regiment lost in 
battle, that day, ninety-five, of whom forty-seven were killed in line. To their 
action is largely attributable the rescue of that portion of Bank's command 
which was not saved by the building of a dam by another Wisconsin regiment. 
(The history of the building of the celebrated dam will be given in another 
chapter.) Excepting usual garrison duty, and expeditions of a local nature, 
the regiment remained most of the time at Little Rock doing general guard 
duty. Lieutenant-Colonel Jacobi, while at this point, was made provost mar- 
shal-general, and the regiment shortly afterward, February ist, embarked for 
home and was paid and disbanded. 

The Tenth Wisconsin Infantry Regiment. 

Mustered into service, October, 14th, 1861. 

Mustered out of service, October 25th, 1865. 

Campaigned in Kentucky, Alabama, Tennessee. 

Engagements : Paint Rock Bridge, Chaplin Hills, Stone's River, Hoover's 
Gap, Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, Lookout Mountain, Tunnel Hill, 
Buzzard Roost, Dallas, Kenesaw Mountain, Peach Tree Creek. 

C)riginal strength, gi6. Total strength, 1,304. Death loss, 219. 

This regiment was organized, during the fall of 1861, at Camp Holton, 
Milwaukee, from which it reported early in November, and after being in camp 
during the winter at Bacon Creek, Kentucky, prepared for the coming cam- 
paign in the spring. During the middle of April it broke camp and reached 
Huntsville by forced marches, capturing the enemy and a great quantity of 
machinery and war material there stored. 

The blows at Stevenson, sixty miles away, at Decatur and other places 
further south, were given with equal swiftness, surprise and success. At Hunts- 
ville the regiment rested for the summer, fighting away guerrillas who attempted 
to damage the union forces and their line of supplies. During this time they 
had many engagements, and especially at Stevenson, where the regiment re- 
pulsed an overwhelming attack and one well calculated to demoralize less 
reliable soldiers. The campaign resulted in the battle of Perry ville or Chap- 
lin Hills, October 8th, 1862, during which both sides offered most strenuous 
resistance to the efforts of the other, resulting in a loss unparalleled, for the 



WISCONSIN IN THE CIVIL WAR. 335 

number engaged, in any of the battles of the war. The regiment behaved in 
such a manner as to elicit from its commanding officer a special order to the 
troops, commending their action as an example to the others. Having rested 
after a short pursuit of the enemy, the command went into camj) at Edgefield 
Junction, near Nashville, ])erforming railroad and other guard duty, until the 
26th of December, when it participated in the general movement culminating 
in the battle of Stone's River. 

Then the army rested, for, while having driven the foe from the field, the 
union forces were greatly shattered. The Tenth, being on the lead in support 
of a battery, which was early engaged by the enemy, in which the regiment, 
although meeting the enemy, was not in action, but bivouacked on the field. 
There was light fighting succeeding days, while our troops advanced the entire 
distance to Chickamauga. Here the Wisconsin men occupied the second line 
of battle. For three days the conflict raged with great fury, some portions of 
our line being successful and others driven back. The details of this battle 
cannot be given in a regimental history, nor the manner in which Thomas' 
troops saved the army, and prevented the invasion from the north, and drove 
the last rel)el force from Tennessee. The regiment did its full duty, side by 
side with others there engaged, as attested by the fact that at roll-call, when 
the fight was over, there were but three officers and twenty-six men of the 
entire regiment reported for duty ; the others on duty in line were either killed, 
Avounded or taken prisoners. The remnant was ordered to Chattanooga and 
went into camp at that place, doing guard and fatigue duty until December 
I St, when, having by recruits and returns become a (small) command, it was 
sent forward against Missionary Ridge and Lookout Mountain. At Tyner's 
.Station it was employed in ordinary camp and guard duty until the latter part 
of May, at which time it joined General Sherman's forces, and participated in 
the engagements which resulted in the capture of Atlanta. The command was 
mustered out at Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on the 25th of October, 1864. 




Liberty Cap and Mammoth Hot Sprincis Hoiki,, \ kllowstone Park. 



Chapter XLIV. 

(^rgani^ation, Battles and Kngagenients of the Eleventh, Twelfth, Thirteenth, Eour 
teentli, Fifteenth and Sixteenth Infantry Regiments. 

Thk Eleventh Wisconsin Infantry Regiment. 

Mustered into service, October iSth, 1861. 

Mustered out of service, September 28th, 1865. 

Campaigned in Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana. 

Engagements: Bayou Cache, Magnolia Church, Champion Hills, Port 
Gibson, Vicksburg, Black River, Jackson, Fort Blakely. 

Original strength, 1,029. Total strength, 1,965. Deathless, 348. 

The Eleventh was organized at Camp Randall during the fall of 1861, 
leaving the state on the 19th of November, and proceeding to Sulphur Springs, 
on the Iron Mountain railroad, Missouri, and where it was employed for many 
miles on guard duty, and in building fortifications and bridges. In March, 1862 
it was assigned to Ceneral Steele's division, and on the 24th went to Texas by an 
overland march. It was a long and tedious trip, through a desolate wilderness 
of swamp and cane-brake, which resulted in great suffering. The enemy 
sought to impede our progress by destroying bridges and felling trees into the 
road. The Eleventh reached Augusta in time to celebrate the glorious Fourth. 
Advance was again resumed, and upon reaching the Cache river, found its passage 
disputed by the enemy. In supportof a brigade battery the regiment attacked and 
drove its opponents, and crossed the river in pursuit. It soon discovered that the foe 
was in strong force, but the advance continued, although the skirmishers were 
well in front. A large portion of the troops were in ambush, the enemy being 
secreted in the thick undergrowth and cane-brake on each side of the road. 
The surprise was of short duration, and the attempt of the enemy to capture 
the cannon was frustrated by the timely arrival of an Illinois regiment, upon 
which arrival the enemy were attacked with such strength and vigor that their 
temporary success was changed into defeat ; the enemy leaving about one hun- 
dred and fifty dead aud wounded on the field. It was known as the battle at 
Bayou Cache. 

The regiment suffered greatly in the advance then made for thirty miles 
to Clarendon, the route being over burning sand and entirely devoid of water. 
Upon arriving here, to its great disappointment it was found that the boats 
with supplies had departed down the river. Huntington, sixty-five miles dis- 
tant, was reached after great suffering, on the 13th of July. With the forces 

337 



338 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

of General Curtis, they returned to Missouri and went into camp on the 6th of 
November at Patterson. Here a new brigade was formed, with Colonel Harris in 
command, and attached to the Army of South Missouri, serving in that de- 
partmenfat Pilot Knob until March, 1863. The Eleventh embarked and 
joined General Grant in the capture of Vicksburg, having been assigned 
to the Thirteenth army corps, commanded by General McPherson. It first 
engaged the enemy at Magnolia Church, in a strong position, from which 
he was driven after a hot engagement, and was followed by the regiment in 
hot pursuit for nearly a mile, where he again gave battle. For half an hour 
the conflict raged furiously, each party being reinforced, but the result was as 
before, the enemy falling back towards Vicksburg. 

On the 1 6th of May the regiment took part in the battle of Champion 
Hills, where, although not actively engaged, it was sent in pursuit of the 
fleeing enemy, who, on the 17th, formed in line of battle and prepared to re- 
sist any further advance. After an artillery duel of two hours, the infantry was 
ordered to charge. Through a scorching tempest of iron and lead, the 
Eleventh Wisconsin leaped forward and was the first to gain the enemy's rifle- 
pits. Following the retreating foe until they reached Black River Bridge, the 
Eleventh alone captured more than one thousand prisoners. The next day 
they were in front of Vicksburg, and took position in the trenches, supporting 
the First Wisconsin battery. 

Grant assaulted Vicksburg on May 28th, which was participated in by this 
AVisconsin regiment, who charged the enemy's entrenchments through a terri- 
ble storm of death. The assault, as is well known, was disastrous to the union 
troops, the regiment losing sixty-nine of its brave members. 

After the surrender of Vicksburg, July 3d, 1863, the Eleventh left for Jack- 
son, where, on the 17th, after driving the enemy from the works, the city was 
occupied by our troops. From here it was transferred and took part in what 
is known as the second Teche expedition, returning to Berwick City after 
marching nearly two hundred miles across the country during stormy weather. 
Being assigned to General Bank's column, then operating in Texas, the regi- 
ment embarked, and while landing at Brazos Santiago, a violent storm drove 
the boat from its moorings while still one-half of the regiment was on board. 
They found harbor at Mustang Island, and after a march of fifty miles, during 
which both ofticers and men suffered from the cold and the deep sand through 
which they had to wade, rejoined the other part of the regiment at Fort Es- 
peranze, greatly exhausted. 

On the 12th of December they captured Indianola, and remained on duty 
there until February nth, 1864, when most of the regiment re-enlisted and 
proceeded to Wisconsin for their thirty days' furlough, arriving at Madison on 
the 2ist of March, and returning to Memphis on the 29th of April, to take 



WISCONSIN IN THE CIVIL WAR. 339 

part in Ceneral Sturgis' expedition. May i8th, the regiment went on duty at 
Ikazier City, and remained there until February 26th, 1865. During this time 
the regiment was engaged in building fortifications, doing guard duty, and 
making excursions into the country held by the rebel enemies and capturing 
some of their forces. On the last date the regiment proceeded to New Or- 
leans to operate in an expedition against Mobile, and was part of the forces 
that captured Spanish Fort. 

Just as the sun was setting on the i ith of April, 1865, the signal was given 
for the column to rush for the rebel works. The Eleventh Wisconsin, on the 
advance, was the first to reach the i)arapet, and i)lanted its fiag ui)on the works 
captured. The loss of the regiment in this fierce charge was sixty-one. The 
regiment did garrison duty at Montgomery, Alabama, until July 23d. It was 
mustered out and reached Madison September 5th, 1865. 

The Twelfth Wisconsin Infantry Regiment. 

Mustered into service, October, 1861. 

Mustered out of service, July 16, 1865. 

Campaigned in South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi. 

Engagements: Vicksburg, Baker's Creek, Decatur, Kenesaw Mountain, 
Nickajack, Chattahoochie, Lovejoy, Atlanta, Pocitaligo, Fayetteville. 

Original strength, 1,045. Total strength, 2,186. Deathless, 294. 

Was organized at Camp Randall, Madison, Wisconsin, and left the state 
for Leavenworth City, January 11, 1862. The severity of the weather and the 
scanty supplies produced great suffering among the men. Here they went into 
camp the middle of February, and prepared to take ])art in the so-called "South- 
west Expedition," in charge of General Lane. After a tedious march to Fort 
Scott and return, it embarked in steamers and reached Columbus, Kentucky, 
June 2d, w'here it repaired railroads which had been destroyed, until the 8th of 
June, when it proceeded to Humboldt, Tennessee, and united with the troops 
under General Halleck. Colonel Bryant, of the regiment, was put in com- 
mand of that post, and for nearly three months the regiment there engaged in 
important guard and scout duty. Pieing attached to the Seventh army corps, 
in October, it joined General Cirant's southward movement for the capture of 
\'icksl)urg, and, after taking part in various expeditions, reached Grand Gulf 
on the i8thof May, 1863. Colonel Bryant, in command of the brigade, led 
the Wisconsin men from time to time in various directions against the enemy. 
Arriving at Richmond, it became a part of the investing army, and upon the 
surrender of that place, July 3, 1863, the regiment was ordered back into 
the country, under General Sherman, for the purpose of taking part in 
the assault on Jackson. This severe but not successful engagement has 



340 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

heretofore been described. After the retirement of the enemy, the regi- 
ment went into camp for nearly a month, then embarked for Natchez, to 
rejoin its division, where it remained in camp most of the time, excepting 
special expeditions or exploits with the rebels, until the 23d of June, 1864, on 
which date it went into camp at Vicksburg. On the 3d of January, 1864, 
it joined the expedition under command of General Sherman, and took part in 
the engagements at Bolton, Mississippi, and the day following, and engaged 
in destroying railroad tracks and other rebel property for the next month, 
marching about four hundred miles in so doing. On the 14th of April, 1864, 
it again went to Tennessee and joined the Army of the Tennessee on the 8th 
of June, with only a single day's rest, it moved forward in line of battle, and, 
on the loth captured the enemy's skirmish line in front of Kenesaw Mountain, 
losing in the engagements immediately following thirty-four men killed 
and wounded. During the balance of the month it was actively engaged 
in picket and fatigue duty, with almost daily conflicts. July 5th it charged 
the enemy's works at Nickajack Oeek and occupied them, being constantly 
under fire till the 14th, when the enemy retired from the front. Pursuit was 
stopped by the rebel entrenchments on the summit of a hill, occupied by some 
of the choicest troops of the confederacy. Oeneral Leggert, in charge of the 
Third division, to which the Twelfth and Sixteenth Wisconsin had been as- 
signed, ordered an assault, and side by side Wisconsin's men rushed upon the 
strongly defended works, which, after a most stubborn fight, in which bayonets 
and clubbed muskets were the favorite weapons, were carried and held against 
the repeated attempts of Pat Cleburne's rebel division to retake the same. 
The severity of this conflict may best be realized from the fact that during the 
short interval of less than half an hour, the regiment lost in killed and wounded 
one hundred and eighty-eight men out of the six hundred engaged. But the 
nerve of the Wisconsin boys was destined to be put to even a more severe test. 
The next day a column of the enemy succeeded in passing their rear, and 
Leggert's division found itself assaulted from two directions. Had the enemy 
attacked simultaneously, from each direction, the federals must have certainly 
surrendered, but when those in front assaulted, our men jumped over to the 
other side of their entrenchments, pouring in such a fire as to bend them back, 
and then, when the enemy from the other direction came on, the boys again 
leaped their own breastworks, and successfully withstood the new charge. 
This unusual warfare raged with great fury, Leggert holding all with all his 
strength, expecting every moment that relief would reach him. This came 
tardily and not in sufficient force to materially change the situation, and for 
hours the men of the Twelfth, with backs to each other, fought the enemy from 
opposite directions. When the sun rose the next morning, the confederates 
were gone. 



WISCONSIN IN THE CIVIL WAR. 341 

A week later, they again called a halt to Sherman's advance. Their as- 
sault was successfully resisted, the regiment losing, in killed and wounded, ten 
men. Again, at Jonesboro, on the 31st of August, the enemy turned on the 
invading union forces and attempted to break the lines at a point where the 
Twelfth Wisconsin was stationed. It was an all day's fight and with a result as usual, 
the Southerners giving way. After remaining in camp at East Point, until the 4th 
of October, the regiment was sent in pursuit of the enemy, but, on the 20th, 
went into camp at Little River, Alabama. Having been ordered to Atlanta, 
the regiment, as part of the Seventeenth army corps, marched through to 
Savannah with Sherman, having the usual experience of all soldiers in that won- 
derful campaign, and thence northward with the victorious army, doing its full 
share of fighting and fatigue duty until the enemy, under Johnston, finally sur- 
rendered. The regiment marched to Washington, by way of Richmond, and 
took part in the Crand Review at the national capital, arriving in Madison, on 
the 2istof July, and was formally disbanded. 

The Thirteknth Wisconsin Infantry Rechment. 

Mustered in, October 17, 1861. 

Mustered out, November 24, 1865. 

Campaigned in Alabama, Kansas, Kentucky, Tennessee, Texas. 

Provost and guard duty. 

Original strength, 970. Total strength, 1,931. Death loss, 183. 

It rendezvoused at Camp Tredway, near Janesville, and left the sfcite on 
the i8th of January, 1862, reaching Leavenworth, Kansas, on the 23d. 
Being assigned to (General Lane's southwestern expedition, it marched two 
hundred and sixty miles to join the balance of the forces at Fort Scott, where it 
arrived on the 21st of February, 1862. After a march of nearly three hundred 
and sixty miles, it reached Fort Riley, New Mexico, only to receive orders to 
countermarch to Corinth, Mississippi, which point was reached mostly by boat 
transportation, and there engaged in usual camp, guard and fatigue duties and 
excursions against the confederates. Doing garrison duty at Fort Donelson, 
from March 2d until November, 1862, during which time it had various brushes 
with the enemy, during which much confederate property was captured or de- 
stroyed. In an affair at Garretsburg, the confederates left forty-six killed and 
wounded on the field, besides fourteen prisoners ; many horses and other war 
material were cai)tured. While this regiment never engaged in any contested 
battle, it often came in contact with the forces of the rebel General Forrest, 
always resulting in the ]:)ursuit of such forces, who being mounted, it was im- 
possible for the infantry to ca])ture. ' The regiment was always active and 
efficient in the ])erformance of all duties assigned it and was never successfully 
resisted by any force opposed. 



342 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

The unusual executive ability shown by the officers and the finely-dis- 
ciplined men rendered them invaluable wherever provost duty in which a com- 
mander was called to exercise executive authority, created a demand for the 
services of this regiment, and this fact is assigned as a reason why the regi- 
ment, although always in a perilous position, has not inscribed upon its ban- 
ners the names of many important victories ; though it has contributed to no 
small extent to many in which it was an immediate, active participant. With- 
out doubt, the continued active watchfulness taken by Colonel Lyon, of this 
regiment, while his small force was guarding the immense depots of supplies at 
Stevenson, which was assailable by the enemy from many different directions, 
prevented the massing of rebel troops against him, and saved to our army the 
valuable stores of war material, the loss of which would have made the retreat 
of the army necessary. 

In February, 1864, the regiment re-enlisted, arriving at Janesville on the 
i8th, and enjoying its thirty days' furlough. The first of April found it again 
on duty, guarding the train from Louisville to Chattanooga. During the 
month, the regiment, under Colonel Lyon, was placed in command of the 
post at Stevenson, and from this time on were active in protecting our lines of 
communication from such injury as would otherwise have been received from 
the rebels. At Decatur, on the 13th of September, it successfully resisted and 
drove away Forrest's cavalry, who attempted to destroy the bridges and sup- 
plies at that point. A little later on, a portion of the regiment was sent out to open 
commi^iication with (General Steadman, who was making a raid into the inte- 
rior of the confederacy. Various of the enemy's camps were broken up. On 
the 31st of December, 1864, while Company G was stationed as a guard at 
Paint Rock Bridge, it was suddenly assailed by a large number of confederates, 
and the guard, consistmg of a lieutenant and thirty-five men, captured. In 
the latter part of March, the regiment was ordered to join the Army of the 
Potomac, but on their way thither received the news of Lee's surrender. 

Then the direction was changed, and it was sent to do duty in Texas on 
the Mexican border, and arrived at Indianola, on the 14th of June. The men 
suffered during the whole campaign from sickness occasioned by the bad 
climate, while many died who had gone through the whole war without being 
sick. Orders came for their mustering out in November, which took place on 
December 26, 1865. 

The Fourteenth Wisconsin Ineantry Regiment. 

Mustered into service, January' 30th, 1862. 

Mustered out of service, October 9th, 1865. 

Campaigned in Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia. 



WISCONSIN IN THE CIVIL WAR. 343 

P^ngagements : Pittsburg Landing, Corinth, Vicksburg, Lovejoy, Cave 
Spring, Spanish Fort, Clifton. 

Original strength, 970. Total strength, 2,132. Death loss, 287. 

This regiment left its camp of instruction, at Fond du Lac, on the 8th of 
March, 1862, and joined Ceneral Crant's forces on the 28th. With less than 
sixty tlays' drill and discipline, it found itself in the midst of a whirl and con- 
fusion of the most severe battle which had been fought thus far in the West, 
known m history as the battle of Pittsbug Landing. Four times, through that 
terrible day, and when retreat of the union troops followed every onset of the 
enemy, this regiment assaulted and captured a rebel battery which had, for 
four hours, rained disaster upon our troops ; l)ut being un.supported it was not 
able to hold the position of their guns. yVgain, through the thicket, over the 
brook, and up the hill, the regiment charged and svas for the second time in 
possession of the guns, but for similar reasons was unable to hold them. The 
third time, when supjjorts had been promised to the regiment, it performed the 
same act with the same result, mistaken orders having taken the supporting 
lines in another direction. The fourth and last time, when arrangements had 
been better completed and understood, it regained the thrice-lost prize, and 
held it. One of the guns, a brass Napoleon, was sent home as a trophy, and 
it is now at the capital of the state. When the battle was over, and the enemy 
had fallen back, seventeen dead horses and sixty dead rebel soldiers were found 
on the crest from which this gun was taken. The regiment lost, in killed and 
wounded, ninety-three men. 

Remaining as a provost guard, near Pittsburg Landing, until the 23d of 
August, the Fourteenth moved to Corinth, and thence to luka. With the 
army the regiment marched to Corinth. On the morning of the 4th, after a 
furious artillery duel, the confederates advanced in .solid columns, the Four- 
teenth being the first to meet them. Although severely handled during the 
ensuing conflict, they were prompt in pursuing the enemy when the contest was 
awarded m favor of the union troops. Our loss was seventy-eight in killed and 
wounded. After a brief rest, the regiment was again on the move, reaching 
Memphis January loth, and a little later embarked for Vicksburg, where, in 
April, the regiment was assigned to the Seventeenth army corps, taking posi- 
tion with the investing army around the city. In the disastrous assaults of the 
19th and 22d, the Fourteenth lost, in killed and wounded, seventy-eight men. 
They were the first infantry regiment to enter Vicksburg, after the surrender, 
being on the right of the corps. 

For about three months thereafter, it occupied Natchez, then returned to 
\'icksburg and encamped for the winter. Nearly the entire regiment re-en- 
listed on the nth of December. They were the first to do so in the Army of 
the Tennessee. On veterans' furlough, the "boys" reached Madison on the 



344 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

2oth. March 6th found them at the front, soon afterward joining the unfortunate 
Red river expedition. The Fourteenth was engaged with the enemy at 
ClouterviUe, Marksville and Yellow Bayou. With the exception of Company 
E, the regiment went out with the Tupolo expedition, capturing a stand of colors 
and defeating the rebel general, Forrest, in which engagement it suffered a loss 
of'sixty men. Returning by the way of Memphis and Duval Bluff, the regi- 
ment touched Brownsville on the 7th of September. A hard march of three 
hundred and forty miles brought it to Cape Girardeau, and thence, by river, 
to ^V'arrensburg, and shortly went into winter quarters at Benton Barracks, 
Missouri. From here it was hastened to Nashville, Tennessee, to reinforce 
General Thomas, where, in the affair at Ciranny White's Pike, the brigade 
drove the enemy from its two lines, capturing two hundred and eighty prison- 
ers. Subsequent to the battle of Nashville, it was engaged in the pursuit of 
the enemy until the 3d of January, and, after various expeditions,- reached 
New Orleans on the 2 2d of the month. During this time the regmient was 
almost constantly engaged with the enemy until the place was captured. 
From there it moved to Montgomery, Alabama, arriving on the 23d of April, 
Colonel Ward being put in command of the post. It was transferred to Mo- 
bile on similar duty until the 9th of October. Company E, having been de- 
tached, served in the campaign of Sherman, from Atlanta to Savannah, and 
was known as "Worden's Battalion," and there rejoined its regiment. The 
regiment left the South for home, reaching Madison on the 23d of October, 
1865. 

The Fifteenth Wisconsin Infantry Regiment. 

Mustered into service, February 14, 1862. 

Mustered out of service, October 13, 1865. 

Campaigned in Georgia and Tennessee. 

Engagements: Stone's River, Murfreesboro, Chickamauga, Altoona, 
Rock Face Ridge, Resaca, and Kenesaw Mountani. 

Original strength, 801. Total strength, 906. Death loss, 299. 

In the same manner as the Germans asked permission to raise a regiment, 
so the Scandinavians made request for their nationality, which was granted ; 
the recruits going into camp at Madison, where they were mustered into the 
United States service on the 14th of February, 1862. Three weeks later, we 
find them encamped at Bird's Point, Missouri. After taking part in the siege of 
Island No. 10, with all that the duties implied, the regiment moved on an ex- 
pedition to Union City, Tennessee, capturing and destroying the confederate 
camp at that place, returning again to the Island, upon the surrender of which 
Lieutenant-Colonel McKee was placed in command. Being transferred, he 
occupied the same position at Union City until the 20th of June, when it was 



WISCONSIN IN THE CIVIL WAR. 345 

successively moved to Humboldt, Jackson, Clear Creek and Corinth, Mississippi, 
going into camp at the latter place. A month later, the regiment was again on 
the move, reaching luka, August 10, and, ten days later, proceeding to Eastport 
to join the Army of the Cumberland. Arriving at Florence, Alabama, the 26th, 
and at Nashville the 10th of November, from whence was reached BowHng 
Green, Kentucky, on the i6th. Their further advance was resisted, two days 
later, at Munfordsville, which opix)sition having been pushed aside, the regi- 
ment made its way to Elizabethtown, and after many miles of marching, and 
countermarching, slimly supi)lied with provisions, pitched tents at Louisville, 
Kentucky, on tlie 20th of November, " tired, hungry, ragged and foot-sore." 
Being transferred into the Army of the Ohio, it again marched in pursuit of 
General Bragg, whom they overtook, but, although under fire of artillery, the 
regiment did not take active part in the battle until the enemy fell back. Then 
the regiment was sent in pursuit, with instructions not to halt until an engage- 
ment had been brought on. But the foe proved too fleet of foot to be over- 
taken, so the regiment returned to Nashville, and joined the expedition down 
the Cumberland river after guerrillas. Its success was marked by the capture 
of fifty prisoners with horses, mules and wagons. On the 25th of December, 
1862, it moved and took part in the battle of Murfreesboro. The enemy first 
halted it at Mortonsville, where, on the opposite side of a deep gap, his field 
guns were ordered to be taken. It seemed a hopeless task, but it was success- 
fully made and the battery compelled to retire with the loss of one gun, cap- 
tured and held by the Fifteenth as a trophy. Advancing again, it went into 
line of battle on the 30th, and was engaged until after dark. At eight o'clock 
the regiment was temporarily relieved for needed rest, food and ammunition. 
Early in the morning, with full boxes and haversacks, supporting the union bat- 
teries, it was conspicuous for its bravery. During the day our forces being 
compelled to retire from successive positions to a final stand in a railroad-cut, 
down which the triumphant enemy poured with the whole strength of their 
united forces. But the throng was stopped. After five days of continuous 
fighting, during which our Scandinavian soldiers displayed the greatest heroism 
and endurance, well worthy of veteran regulars, the batde was finished, and 
the field left in possession of the federal army. The bravery of these men is 
attested by the fact that their loss was over one hundred in killed and wounded. 
The Fifteenth remained near Murfreesboro, following the national expedi- 
tions into the interior, until the 24th of June, 1863, when, with the Army of 
the Cumberland, moving southward, it went into camp at Winchester, Tennes- 
see, on the 3d of July. The middle of August, it crossed the Cumberland 
mountains, arriving at Stevenson, Alabama, on the 20th. The brigade had in 
charge the pontoons of the army, and became expert in placing them across 
the rivers, frecjuently having first to drive away the enemy's troops from the 



346 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

opposite side. On the 14th of September, we find the Fifteenth retracing its 
steps across the mountains to take part in the battle of Chickamauga. During 
this severe engagement, the Fifteenth ably maintained its previous record, los- 
ing thirty-five in killed and wounded. After the battle, the regiment again 
went into camp, where it was rejoined by the two companies which had been 
doing duty on Island Number 10. November 25th, 1863, it constituted part 
of the storming column that captured Mission Ridge from the enemy, and was 
thence hastened to reinforce or relieve General Burnside's beleaguered forces at 
Knoxville, Tennessee. Arriving there, after an extremely fatiguing march, on 
the 7th of December, it went into camp at Strawberry Plains, meeting a part of 
Wheeler's cavalry and capturing more than one hundred prisoners. Shortly 
afterward, while on its way home on veterans' furlough, it was stopped by the 
authorities, owing to threatening movements by the enemy, and returned to 
Nashville after a most exhausting march. The activity of the confederates re- 
quired the same action on the part of the national troops, and the Fifteenth was 
hurried first to one place and then to another, until the i6th of April, when, 
having marched hundreds of miles, it found a resting place at McDonald Sta- 
tion, Tennessee. Joining General Sherman's army at Ringgold, Georgia, it 
next engaged the enemy near Dalton, and followed him until he retired east- 
ward . 

The rebels confidently made their next stand at Resaca, and were instantly 
charged by the Fifteenth and a furious action ensued, the confederates retiring 
during the night of the i6th of May, 1864. Our boys sustained a loss of 
eighteen in killed and wounded. The Scandinavian regiment was again pushed 
forward in pursuit, constantly skirmishing with the enemy's rear-guard, which 
was pushed into the rebel fortified position at Dallas. These fortifications 
were charged on the 27th of May, and it is claimed by experienced generals, 
who were present, that it was one of the most desperate affairs of the entire 
war, many of our men being killed inside of the fortifications. Of the one hun- 
dred and sixty men of the Fifteenth who took part, eighty-three were killed, 
wounded or taken prisoners. The regiment moved with Sherman's army the 
23d of June, on Kenesaw Mountain, and drove the enemy, meeting a loss of 
fifteen killed and wounded. Again in pursuit it started for the siege of At- 
lanta, and on the ist of September, after a rapid march, engaged the enemy 
twenty-two miles distant from Jonesville. Continuing their march to the Gate 
City of the South, it was relieved from duty on the 29th of September, and 
ordered to report at Chattanooga, arriving at the latter place the ist of Oc- 
tober. Here, and in that vicinity, it remained until the expiration of its term 
of service, and was mustered out at the front, reaching home in separate 
detachments. 



Chapter XLV. 

Organization, Campaigns and Engagements of the Sixteenth, Seventeenth, Eighteenth, 
Nineteenth and Twentieth Wisconsin Infantry Regiments. 

The Sixteenth Wisconsin Infantry Regiment. 

MusTEKKi) into service, January 31, 1862. 

Mustered out of service, July 17th, 1865. 

Campaigned in Tennessee, Mississippi, Georgia, Louisiana, Alabama, 
North and South Carolina. 

Engagements: Shiloh, Corinth, Atlanta, (Goodrich, Lovejoy. 

Original strength, 1,066. Total strength, 2,200. Death loss, 269. 

After only a few weeks' experience of camp discipline, this regiment left 
the state on the last day of January, 1862, and by the way of Missouri and 
Fort Henry, Tennessee, arrived a week later at Pittsburg Landing, taking part 
in that well-known battle, commencing on Sunday morning the 6th of April, 
1862. For two days it was thus engaged, meeting the assault by counter- 
charge, and being changed from one division to another in line. When the 
enemy finally withdrew, it had suffered a loss of two hundred and forty-five 
men, killed and wounded. Taking part in the subsequent siege of Corinth it 
entered that city, when evacuated by the enemy, on the 29th of May. Hav- 
ing i)erformed the usual camp duty from that time until the middle of Septem- 
ber, it marched towards luka for nearly fifty miles, and was then ordered to 
return to Corinth, arriving there the following day, taking part in what is known 
as the second battle of Corinth, which occurred on the 3d and 4th of October. 
After a defeat of the enemy there a second time, the regiment arrived at Grand 
Junction, via Cold Watch and Holly Springs, from which latter point it was 
hastily pressed onward seven miles farther, and took part in the affair at Lumpkin 
Mills, from which place the rebels were driven. By way of Abbeyville, Ripley 
and Holly Springs, the Sixteenth went into camp at Moscow late in the year, 
where it remained until the early part of Feb'-uary, 1863, when, marching to 
Memphis, and thence by boats to Lake Providence, Louisiana, in the vicinity 
of which the regiment performed usual guard duty until August, when it 
moved to Vicksburg, arriving September 28th, 1863, and ultimately moved 
back a few miles, guarding the fords of the Big Black river, until February 5th, 
1864, at which da^e the regiment again moved to Vicksburg. Here it re 
ceived three companies of recruits, while five companies, having veteranized, 
returned to Madison on the usual thirty days' furlough, meeting a hearty wel- 

347 



348 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

come, and rejoining the forces at the front via Cairo and up the Tennessee 
river by transports to Clofton, Tennessee, thence marched to Rome, Georgia, 
and became part of (ieneral Sherman's army, participating in all its subse- 
quent campaigns and battles to the sea coast and northward through the Caro" 
Unas, and, after Johnston's surrender, marching to Washington. After the 
Grand Review, bj- rail and boat, the regiment reached Louisville, and July 2d, 
1865, were mustered out of service. 

The Seventeenth Wisconsin Infantry Regiment. 

Mustered into service, March 15th, 1862. 

Mustered out of service, July 14th, 1865. 

Campaigned in Mississippi, Georgia, South Carolina. 

Engagements : Brownsville, Corinth, Vicksburg, Big Shanty, Atlanta, 
Kenesaw Mountain, Lovejoy. 

Original strength, 962. Total strength, 1,637. l^eath loss, 220. 

Not to be outdone by the Germans and Scandinavians in patriotism, the 
brave men of the Emerald Isle, who had voluntarily cast their lots with the 
American republic, asked permission to form a regiment, which was granted, 
and after the usual rendezvous at Madison, the regiment left the state for the 
front, on the 23d of March, 1862, and in the usual manner arrived at Pittsburg 
Landing, going into camp near Shiloh Church on the 24th of April. It first 
saw active .service at the siege of Corinth, and on the 3d of October, 1862, the 
the enemy having made a sally against the investing army, the Irish boys were 
ordered to " fix bayonets " for business. It was Boyne repeated. The rebels 
were driven back from every portion of the field by the splendid behavior of 
these new troops. The commanding general felt it due them to issue a special 
order, complimenting their heroic and successful conduct. The loss of the 
regiment in this onset was forty-one. Although following the enemy in pur- 
suit for a number of miles, no engagement took place in which this regiment 
participated until the 28th of November, near Waterford, Mississippi, when the 
confederates turned on their opponents, the Seventeenth being in advance. The 
confederates found safety in crossing the Tallahatchie river and burning the 
bridge. At Holly Springs, the regiment became part of the forces sent 
to retake the place, which was accomplished, and the enemy driven away. 

While preparing, on the 23d of December, for the usual observance of 
Christmas, the regiment was suddenly taken from camp and hurried to Grand 
Junction. From the afternoon of the 23d, it was constantly in arms until the 
3d of January, on which date it embarked and proceeded down the Mississippi 
river, landing at Young's Point, Louisiana. At Lake Providence it did usual 
duty until it took part in the general movement for the investment and re- 
duction of Vicksburg. During this ])eriod occurred the battle of (Champion 



WISCONSIN IN THK CIX II, WAR. 349 

Hills, to which point the regiment was hurried forward and ininie<liately placed 
in line of battle in support of a battery. When the victory was won the Seven- 
teentli hastened in pursuit, which was ke])t up as far as Black River bridge. 
Reaching \'icksburg it bivouacked in a ravine under fire of the enemy's guns. 
On the 19th of May, in company with other \\'isconsin troojjs, it assaulted 
the works, but the attack was unsuccessful, the regiment losing about twenty- 
three. Upon the surrender of Vicksburg, the Seventeenth marched into the 
city on the 4th of July, 1863, and remained there in duty until the 12th, when 
it proceeded to Natchez, Mississippi, and was there furnished horses, in order 
to pursue successfully the guerrillas in that neighborhood. 

Their expedition was such as is common and has been heretofore nar- 
rated, the only mentionable feat being the capture of a steamer on the ist of 
September, on the Black river, the regiment having no artillery, but with 
muskets picking otif' the pilot and officers until the white fiag was run up. 
Another expedition, a week later, gave a running fight of nine miles, during 
which the regiment suftered some loss and captured a number of prisoners and 
the flag of the regiment it was pursuing. In January, 1864, more than three- 
fourths of the regiment re-enlisted, taking the thirty days' furlough home, and 
returning to the front, arriving at Huntsville, Alabama, on the 23d of May, 
1864. 

Here it joined General Sherman's army, and was engaged, during that 
celebrated March to the Sea, in a skirmish at Big Shanty, the battle of Kene- 
saw Mountain and the crossing of the Chattahoochie river. It occupied a 
position in the trenches before Atlanta. On the 22d of April, 1864, the 
rebels assailed its ])osition with overwhelming forces, and the Irish regiment 
stood manfully to its work until the enemy was driven back in confusion. It 
made the trip to Savannah, and was part of the forces which accompanied (ien- 
eral Sherman through South and North Carolina to Richmond and Washing- 
ton, and took ])art in the drand Review of all the armies of the union, May 
24th. On the 17th of July, after being sent to Louisville, Kentucky, it was 
mustered out and discharged at Madison. 

Thk EiGHTf:F,\rH Wisconsin Iniantkv Rk(;imknt. 

Mustered into service in February, 1862. 

Mustered out of service, July i8th, 1865. 

Campaigned in Tennessee, Mississippi, North C'arolina, Cieorgia. 

Engagements: Shiloh, Corinth, Jackson, Chaminon Hills, Vicksburg, 
Altoona, Fayetteville. 

( )riginal strength, 967. Total strength, 1,637. Death loss, 221. 

Leaving their camp at Milwaukee, without uniforms or arms, it was hurried 
to Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee. Reporting, on the 15th of April, to General 



350 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

Prentiss, it was hastily equipped and moved to the front line. The next morn- 
ing it was assailed and, for the first time, heard the order to load and fire. 
The story of this battle is well known, and this new organization was in the 
most intense fury of the fight during the whole day. Personal bravery made 
for the regiment a name and record which would have been only more glorious 
had It experienced the necessary drill and discipline. It left the field only 
when other regiments of longer experience retired. Although without a single 
field ofticer, they kept together all day. The two hundred and seventy-eight 
killed and wounded illustrates the fury of the battle. The Eighteenth subse- 
quently took part in the siege and capture of Corinth, and without much 
opportunity during the active movements of the army for ordinary drill, never- 
theless pushed forward to luka, Mississippi, arriving there while the battle was 
in progress. From this time it skirmished almost constantly with the enemy, 
doing guard and excursion duty until after the battle of Corinth. Early in 
December it was again on the move to Abbey ville, Oxford, Yocoma and Holly 
Springs, encamping, the 30th of December, at Moscow, Tennessee. Two weeks 
later it moved to Memphis, and there embarked for Young's Point, Louisiana, 
arriving there on the 25th, and ultimately going into camp at Lake Providence. 

The regiment being engaged there in digging a canal, but being inter- 
rupted in the work, moved next to Milliken's Bend and, by the way of Hard 
Times, crossing the Mississippi, and, on the 12th of May, itreportedto General 
McPherson at Raymond, Mississippi. At the battle of Jackson, heretofore 
reported, it lost more than a score of men, and from there marched to take part 
in the battle of Champion Hills. It was detailed, as sharpshooters, on the 2 2(1, 
to accompany a large force on that day. Excepting now and then an excur- 
sion, it remained in the trenches before Vicksburg until its surrender, and there 
continued until Septemper nth, next, encamping at Memphis, Tennessee. By 
the way of Corinth, it reached Chattanooga after marching a distance of more 
than two hundred miles. It did its share, on the 24th of November, in the 
capture of Mission Ridge, and pursued the enemy as far as Granville. 

After doing guard duty at Bridgeport, Alabama, it went into camp at 
Huntsville, in that state, until the first of May, 1864. From there, on the 19th 
of June, It moved to Stevenson, and reached Altoona on the 13th. From 
here it was sent in i)ursuit of rebel forces, and was successively ordered to 
Chattanooga and Cowan, and took part in the battle of Altoona, October 5th, 
resisting all attempts of the enemy to capture the place. Having re-enlisted 
and returned from Madison, it rejoined its command on the 8th of February, 
1865, at Beaufort, North Carolina. At the end of the war, it proceeded to 
Washington and took part in the Grand Review. Thence to Madison (by way 
of Louisville, Kentucky), where it was paid oft' and disbanded, on the 24th of 
July, 1865. 



WISCONSIN IN THK CIVIL WAR. 351 

ThK NlNElKKNTH WISCONSIN lNFANrR\- RkcIMENT. 

Mustered into service, April 30th, 1862. 

Mustered out of service, August 27th, 1865. 

Campaigned in Virginia. 

Engagements: Drury's Bluff, Petersburg, Seven Pines, Fair Oaks. 

Original strength, 973. Total strength, 1,484. Death loss, 148. 

The quota of the state being more than full, after the Eighteenth Wiscon- 
sin was sent out, Colonel Sanders, of Racine, succeeded in obtaining permis- 
sion from the war department at Washington to organize an independent regi- 
ment, and recruiting immediately commenced with a rendezvous at Madison. 
lUit before the organization was completed an order issued revoked all authority 
for independent conmiands. The state then assumed the responsibility of this 
regiment, and it continued its life as the Nineteenth Wisconsin infantry. One 
reason for this was that Camp Randall, having been designated by the general 
government as a rebel prison for the confinement of captured confederates, and 
the recruits of battalions being the only troops in the state, were consequently 
ordered to guard the camp. This duty was performed until the jn-isoners 
were sent to Chicago. On the 2d of June, 1862, the regiment left the state, 
and, moving by the way of Washington, went into camp at Hampton, Virginia. 
Colonel Sanders, having been appointed provost judge at Norfolk, moved his 
regiment there, where it remained until April nth, 1863, and after the 
26th of the month was sent to various points, performing the severest kind of 
fatigue duty incident to army service. The weather being very inclement, 
the men suffered to such an extent as to reduce the duty list to less than one 
hundred men. June 17th, 1863, they were transported to Yorktown, and 
went into fortifications there, until they re-embarked for Newton, North Caro- 
lina, arriving at the latter i)lace on the nth of October. 

On the ist of October, 1864, the enemy made an assault upon the lines 
protected by the Nineteenth regiment and, although attacked by ten times 
its number, the regiment manfully held its place until reinforcements arrived 
and the enemy abandoned the attack. 

From Newton to Yorktown, and thence by way of the James river to 
Point of Rocks, serving subsequently with General Butler's command in the 
Army of the James, the Nineteenth ])articipated generally in the movements of 
liiat army, until the close of the war. During our unsuccessful attack on Fort 
Darling, on the 12th and 14th of May, 1864, the regiment had a few men 
wounded, and two days later, during a dense fog, the enemy made a furious 
attack upon that part of the line occupied by the regiment, driving back our 
troops nearly a mile, where they rallied and withstood the further progress of 
the foe. In this aftair the regiment lost thirty-six men killed and wounded. 
On the 1 2th of August, 1864, two hundred and fifty of the regiment re-enlisted 



352 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

and went to Madison, returning on the 12th of Octol^er to the former com- 
mand. On the 27th, a large force, including the Nineteenth, left the trenches 
for an expedition towards the enemy's rear, thinking to surprise an important 
fort at the old battlefield of Fair Oaks. The enemy permitted them to advance 
until almost at the base of the fort, where they were in as complete a trap as 
ever set for man or beast. The enemy poured m so murderous a cross-fire 
that, during the few moments in which they were subjected to it, of the one 
hundred and eighty men of the Nineteenth who went into the fight, one hun- 
dred and thirty-six of them were killed, wounded or taken prisoners. On the 
3d of April, General Butler directed an assault on the works on front of 
Richmond. 

The Nineteenth, being the third column to enter the city, at eight o'clock, 
planting its colors upon the city hall, it being the first regimental flag raised in 
that city. Here it did provost duty and duties incidental to the tnnes, and was 
mustered out at Richmond, on the 29th of August, 1865, and returned to 
Madison. 

The Twentieth Wisconsin Infantry Regiment. 

Mustered into service, August 23d, 1862. 

Mustered out of service, August 9th, 1865. 

Campaigned in Arkansas, Missouri, Mississippi, Louisana, Alabama. 

Engagements: Prairie Grove, Vicksburg, Spanish Fort. 

Original strength, 990. Total strength, 1,129. Death loss, 226. 

Leaving the state on the last day of August, the regiment, by the way of St. 
Louis, Raleigh, Lebanon, Springfield and Cassville, reached the enemy at 
Cross Hollows, Arkansas, on the 17th of October, driving them from that 
place and then pushing on to Cane Hill, Arkansas. Here it became a part of 
General Blunt's forces and with them took part immediately in the battle of 
Prairie Grove, December 6th, 1862, going into line of battle after the respec- 
tive forces had been engaged sometime. Here it was instantly ordered to 
charge a rebel battery, which it did, succeeding in capturing the same, but 
was unable to hold it longer than to spike and destroy the guns of the enemy 
for active use. Its loss at this battle reached two hundred and one men, 
killed and wounded. 

The 27th of December, after having driven the enemy from Van Buren, 
the regiment marched into Missouri and ultimately, on the 31st of March, 
1863, after various changes went into camj) near Raleigh, where it remained 
until the next summer. 

From this place it descended to Mississippi and took position in the 
trenches in front of Vicksburg on the loth of June, 1863. After the surrender 
of the city it became a part of General Bank's forces, and moved to Port 



WISCONSIN IN THE CIVIL WAR. 353 

Hudson, the latter place having surrendered before they reached it. The 
regiment moved up the Yazoo river and at once engaged the enemy and pur- 
sued him upon his retreat, capturing a number of prisoners. Being shifted 
from this place to another, it, on the 5th of September, found itself near New 
Orleans, where it was constantly attacked by the enemy in ambuscade during 
his retreat. Taking part in the Texas expedition in October, after a stormy 
voyage it disembarked opposite Matamoras and, on the 12th of January, 1864, 
it cro.ssed into Mexico to protect the United States consul, returning to our 
own soil when that was accomplished. The 5th of August, 1864, this regi- 
ment again reached Carroltown, Louisiana, and participated in the move- 
ment against Mobile Point, which place it reduced and received the surrender 
of the garrison August 28, 1864. The government being in need of lumber, a 
portion of the regiment was detailed to enter the forests, saw up and ship that 
article as fast as possible. This duty it accomplished again successfully, and it 
may be mentioned that most of the lumber was captured and taken from the 
enemy's mills and yards, a method much preferred by the men to the original 
design. 

Without any relaxation of energy, the regiment performed this or any 
other duty required, and ultimately arrived, on the 25th of March, 1865, at 
Mont Rosa on Mobile Bay, which soon was abandoned by the enemy. 
From here the regiment was ordered to report at Galveston, Texas, where it did 
garrison and guard duty until mustered out of service, July 14th, 1865, reach- 
Madison August 19th, where it was formally disbanded. 




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Chapter XLVI. 

Organization, Campaigns and Engagements of the Twenty-first, Twenty-second, Twenty- 
third, Twenty-fourth and Twenty-fifth Infantry Regiments. 

The Twenty-first Wisconsin Infantry Regiment. 

Mustered into service, September 5, 1862. 

Mustered out of service, June 8, 1865. 

Campaigned in Kentucky, North Carolina, Georgia, South Carohna. 

Engagements : Chaphn Hills, Chickamauga, Resaca, Pumpkin Vine 
Creek, Atlanta, Savannah, Bentonville, Averysboro. 

Original strength, 1,002. Total strength, 1,171. Death loss, 288. 

The Twenty-first Wisconsin rendezvoused at Oshkosh, September i, 1862. 
Many of its commissioned officers served during the previous eighteen months. 
The national authorities, fearing an invasion into Ohio, hurried all the new 
troops available to oppose the same, and the Twenty-first found itself near 
Covington, Kentucky, on the opposite bank of the Ohio, within two weeks 
after it was mustered into the service, and before it had received any arms 
whatever, and with little drill. In fact, it may be said that the regimental 
records had not been made, nor the necessary camp equipments furnished, 
until the regiment was in the presence of the enemy. Upon receiving such, it 
reported to General P. H. Sheridan, at Louisville, Kentucky. 

In Kentucky, Tennessee, and Georgia, the regiment performed duties 
identical with such as have heretofore been described in connection with other 
organizations from Wisconsin in this locality, and which it is not necessary to 
repeat, only it may be added that the action of the officers and the men was in 
full accord with that of other regiments whose histories have been given, 
receiving from the commanding officers high praise for efficient and soldierly 
conduct, especially noticeable at the battle of Chaplin Hills, October, 1862, 
when this regiment, with the balance of Starkweather's brigade, was hurried 
suddenly from the supporting line to check the enemy, who had captured 
our batteries and were driving their supports in confusion. Although fighting 
as well as it was possible for such troops to do, it was very nearly swept away 
by the enemy, but the regiment later went into a interior line, and served 
until the battle was over. The regimental loss was over one hundred and 
seventy-nine. Within three months from this serious conflict, the regiment 
participated in the batde of Stone's River, the latter part of December, 1862. 

8f)5 



356 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

On the 19th of September, 1863, the reghiient was agani engaged with the 
enemy in the battle of Chickamauga, fighting all day long, retiring temporarily 
in the evening, and again advanced on the 20th, and constantly engaged until 
nightfall, when that wing of the army having been overpowered, orders were 
given to retreat, but were not received by the Twenty-first, and being sur- 
rounded by the enemy, nearly one hundred men and ofticers were captured. 
After the battle of Chickamauga, General Grant, being put in command, im- 
mediately advanced his victorious troops towards Lookout Mountain and Mis- 
sionary Ridge, where a successful engagement with the enemy, on the 25th of 
November, entailed a loss upon the foe of fifteen thousand, including the 
killed, wounded and prisoners, together with thirty-five cannon and many 
thousand small arms. The Twenty-first was not actively employed in these 
battles, although, being a supporting line, it was actively engaged in the pur- 
suit of the enemy. 

As will be remembered, Sherman arrived cjuickly after the battle of Mis- 
sionary Ridge and relieved Burnside, besieged at Knoxville. This accom- 
plished, it started out on the famous Georgia campaign. In command of 
Colonel Hobart, who had escaped from prison, and recruited its numbers to 
four hundred men, it fell again into line and took part in all of the movements 
incident to the campaign up to the capture of Atlanta, meeting losses in nearly 
every engagement, and sustaining the reputation of the state wherever it went, 
and in all that it did. 

Hastily going in pursuit of the enemy by rapid marching with the Four- 
teenth army corps, it traveled in various directions, reaching Savannah river on 
the 6th of December and the city of that name on the 21st. This stronghold 
having surrendered, it moved into South Carolina, destroying the enemy's 
property, especially railroads, arriving on the nth of March, 1865, at Fayette- 
ville, North Carolina, participating in the two battles of Averysboro and Ben- 
tonviile, quickly following the defeated foe. The regiment was the first to enter 
Raleigh, the capital of North Carolina, on the 30th of April, when, their old 
enemy having surrendered, it marched to Washington and thence were sent 
home, arriving at Milwaukee on the 17th of June, 1865. 

The Twenty-second Wisconsin Infantry Regiment. 

Mustered into service, September 2, 1862. 

Mustered out of service, June 12, 1865. 

Campaigned in Kentucky and Tennessee. 

Engagements: Thompson's Station, Tullahoma, Brentwood Station, 
Resaca, Kenesaw Mountain, Golgotha Church, Nose Creek, Peach Tree Creek, 
Atlanta, Lost Mountam, Averysboro. 

Orignial strength, 1,009. Total strength, 1,505. Death loss, 226. 



WISCONSIN IN THE CIVIL WAR. 357 

From Camp Utley, Racine, the Twenty-second regiment moved the mid- 
dle of September, 1862, on its southern mission. It was less than three weeks 
old, when hastened away to meet the rebel Kirby Smith's invasion from Ken- 
lucky into Ohitj. This foray was thus prevented, and in place was substituted 
a helter-skelter pursuit of that officer's heterogeneous and quickly-vanishing 
army of irregular forces. 

The regiment reached Nashville, Tennessee, early in the second month of 
1863. Meantime the colonel (Utley) had met with a similar experience to 
Colonel Paine, of the Fourth (previously narrated), regarding slaves who had 
sought refuge from their former masters within the union lines. It was a good 
regiment, it worked hard and with persistent fidelity, but was unfortunate in 
always meeting the enemy at great disadvantage. 

At Spring Hill, early in 1863, the colonel and (juite a part of his com- 
mand were gobbled up and taken prisoners. A month later, w'hile guardmg a 
railroad, the lieutenant-colonel and the balance of the regiment, before a man 
was wounded, were similarly disposed of. However, most of them were 
([uickly exchanged, and the men returned in time to participate in Sherman's 
campaign, and joined the general at Ringgold, Georgia, in May, 1864. At 
Resaca, on the 13th, it was in the reserve lines, but two days later assaulted 
and carried the first line of the enemy's works, and again at Dallas, on the 
25th; at Kenesaw Mountain, on the 3d of April, it suffered loss at the front 
repulsing the enemy, after a splendid effort. At the battle of Peach Tree 
Creek, its action was such in resisting the enemy, who came upon it in over- 
whelming numbers, that the commanding general (Fighting Joe Hooker) an- 
nounced in orders that " no regiment ever did better." 

The 2d of November, 1864, it marched into Atlanta. November 15, 1864, 
it moved with the Twentieth corps, via Milledgeville, to Savannah and the 
sea. Thence northward, taking its full share of duty, it next engaged th^ 
foe at Averysboro, North Carolina, March i6th, 1865, capturing much mate- 
rial and many prisoners. 

By the way of Richmond it reached the national capital and took part in 
the Grand Review at the close of the war, and was mustered out of service at 
Washington, June 12th, 1865. 

The Twenty-third Wisconsin Infanirv Regiment. 

Mustered into service, August, 1862. 

Mustered out of service, July 4th, 1865. 

Campaigned in Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee. 

Engagements : ^'lcksburg, Fort Hindman, Cypress Bend, Port Gibson, 
Raymond, Champion Hills, Black River Bridge, Jackson, Carrion Crow 
Bayou, Sabine Cross Roads, Clouterville, Spanish Fort, Blakely. 



358 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

Original strength, 994. Total strength, 1,117. Death loss, 287. 

From Camj) Randall, at Madison, this regiment reached Camp Bates, in 
Kentucky, late in September, 1862, and from there went to Louisville, reach- 
ing Memphis on the 27th of November. From that time it became part of the 
troops that invested Vicksburg. AVhen not otherwise engaged in expeditions, 
the regiment performed the usual camp, garrison and drill duty, being most of 
the time under fire without serious loss. Its first engagement was at Fort 
Hindman, in Arkansas, whither it had been called to capture a body of the 
enemy. It was a most vigorous fight, although of short duration ; the enemy 
surrendered after our men had suftered a loss of thirty-eight men killed and 
wounded. Upon returning to Vicksburg, the severity of the service was such 
that the Twenty-third had not a single commissioned officer fit for duty, and 
hardly enough enlisted men for camp-guard. Having recovered in a marked 
degree by the middle of February, 1863, the regiment was sent on an expedi- 
tion in pursuit of the enemy, going as far as Cypress Bend, Arkansas, where 
the confederates were engaged and effected escape by means of a large ferry- 
boat and a skiff". The capture of a few prisoners and a nominal amount of con- 
federate stores was the small compensation for the splendid effort made. Before 
the Wisconsin men returned to Young's Point, they were again started off' on an 
eighty-mile march on the same errand. This became the leading part of 
their duty until the loth of May, 1863, when they took part in the capture 
of Port Gibson, being the first troop to enter that place, securing quite a 
number of prisoners and considerable property. Again advancing, on the isth, 
they were resisted by the enemy at Raymond, whom they drove until the battle 
of Champion Hills commenced, where the Twenty-third, arriving upon the 
field, was instantly ordered to charge a rebel battery of twelve guns, resulting 
in the capture of several cannon belonging to the enemy. In pursuit it 
attacked a Tennessee regiment, which, after a short encounter, surrendered. 

Again they took their places in the trenches before Vicksburg, participat- 
ing in the unsuccessful assault on the 22d of May, 1863; after which, until 
the surrender of the city, the regiment was exposed to severe fatigue and battle 
duty, until it numbered scarcely one hundred and fifty fit for duty. 

From Vicksburg, after its surrender, the regiment was hastened towards 
Jackson, Missi.ssippi, returning after the capture of that place to its former 
position, embarking late in August for Carrolton, Louisiana, and thence, by 
way of New Orleans, to Vermillion. After marching over dreadful roads to 
Bayou Boreau, where the enemy were found in force, the latter retiring, the 
regiment advanced quickly until it was decided to discontinue the pursuit. 
Being assaulted shordy after the commencement of its return march by a heavy 
force of the enemy, the regiment was in a perilous position for more than 
three hours, holding the enemy in check, expecting reinforcements. When 



WISCONSIN IN THE CIVIL WAR. 359 

such arrived, the Twenty-third had lost one hundred and twenty-three killed 
and wounded. The retrograde movement continued to Vermillion Bay and 
thence to Brashier City, at which place it embarked, reaching Decros Point, 
Texas, on the 1st of January, 1864, going there into the usual garrison and 
guard duty, with now and then an expedition or reconnoissance which refjuired 
many miles of hard marching. 

By boat, it reached Algiers, Louisiana, on the 26th of February, 1864, and 
took part in the celebrated Red river expedition, the disastrous result of which 
is well known in history. It was a continuous round of regular and special 
duty, which occupied the attention of this regiment until April, when it was 
again put en route towards Sabine Cross Roads, participating there in the battle 
with the enemy, and suffering a loss of about seventy of its number. 

The subse([uent retreat of Bank's forces has been told, the Wisconsin regi- 
ments taking their full share in the perils readily implied. From this on the 
regiment was engaged in destroying rebel camjjs and in expeditions of one kind 
and another against confederate resources, part of the time marching on foot 
and part loaded in crowded transports, more disagreeable than foot work. 
These services, beside their discomfitures, were not without peril and loss, and 
it ultimately found itself in an expedition to capture Mobile, Alabama, and, 
after this was accomplished, and although Lee and Johnston had surrendered, 
and the rebellion had collai)sed, the regiment was kept on until the 4th of July, 
when it was formally disbanded at Madison, Wisconsin. 

The Twenty-fourth Wisconsin Infantry Regiment. 

Mustered into service, August 21, 1862. 

Mustered out of service, June loth, 1865. 

Campaigned in Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia. 

Engagements: Cha])lin Hills, Stone's River, Chickamauga, Mission 
Ridge, Lookout Mountain, Resaca, Adairsville, Kenesaw Mountain, Peach 
Tree Creek, Macon Railroad, P>anklin. 

Original strength, 1,002. Total strength, 1,077. L^eath loss, 173. 

This is sometimes called the pet regiment of Milwaukee. It was raised 
almost exclusively in that city, and within the rank and file were numbered 
many sons of prominent families in Milwaukee. 

Leaving its camp at Milwaukee, it reached Louisville, Kentucky, on the 
10th of September, 1862, in time to render important service at the battle of 
Chaplin Hills, and shortly thereafter being sent in pursuit of the enemy, for a 
distance of nearly two hundred miles, reaching Nashville on the 8th of Octo- 
ber. From there it started for Murfreesboro, reaching the latter place so as 
to take part in the conflict known as the battle of Stone's River, where it per. 
formed excellent duty against overwhelming numbers, meeting a loss of nearly 



360 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

two hundred in killed and wounded. It is usually considered that this regi- 
ment prevented a total rout by the enemy by its staying qualities, holding its 
perilous position, and checking the enemy's advance, when nearly all other 
troops had retired from the field. A little rest was given the regiment after the 
victory, before it was moved from that place to another, on an important mis- 
sion, going as far a.s Bridgeport, Alabama, thence to Chattanooga, Tennessee, 
and, after a hurried march of a hundred miles, going into line of battle in 
front of the enemy at Chickamauga, at three o'clock in the morning, and driv- 
ing the enemy from their front. The confederate forces having again rallied, 
and in great numbers, assaulted and drove back the regiment for some distance, 
resisting which assault the Twenty-fourth lost over one hundred of its men. 
After this battle, an opportunity had been permitted to recuperate; then the 
regiment was again sent out to capture the enemy's pickets in front of Mission 
Ridge, which duty it accomphshed, and without orders pushed upward, driv- 
ing the enemy from one position to another, for more than four hours. Many 
])risoners and much war material were captured. The loss of the regiment 
was slight compared with that of the confederates. 

From the victory at Mis.sion Ridge, it was hastened to relieve General 
Burnside, who was besieged at Knoxville, and this being accomplished, nearly 
the entire remaining force of the Wisconsin boys was at once engaged in op- 
erating a grain and grist-mill in the country, to furnish necessary rations and 
forage for the troops, which could not otherwise be supplied, by reason of the 
destruction of railroads and other communications with the home depots. 

The regiment next met the enemy at Strawberry Plains, on the i6th of 
January, 1864, where, under direction of General Phil Sheridan, it charged a 
rebel battery, and although driving the enemy from its position, was unable to 
capture the guns. Thereafter, at Chattanooga, Tennessee, the regiment per- 
formed such duty as was assigned to it, until November, when it again invaded 
Alabama, marching most of the way, covering more than two hundred miles 
of travel, building roads and fortifications as often as required, until mustered 
out of the service on the 15th of June, 1865. 

The Twenty-fifth Wisconsin Infantry Regiment. 

Mustered into service, September 14, 1862. 

Mustered out of service, June 7, 1865. 

Campaigned in Kentucky, Tennessee, Louisiana, Alabama, North Caro- 
lina, South Carolina. 

Engagements: Decatur, Resaca, Dallas, Lost Mountain, Kenesaw 
Mountain, Atlanta, Okeechee River, Salkahatchie, South River, Goldsboro. 

Original strength, 1,018. Total strength, 1,444. Death loss, 422. 



WISCONSIN IN THE CMVIL WAR. 361 

From its camp at La Crosse, this regiment was ordered northward to 
St. Paul, Minnesota, for the purpose of suppressing the Indian outbreak on 
the 19th of September, 1862, reaching New Uhn, where headquarters were 
estabhshed. The Indian revolt having been suppressed, the regiment marched 
nearly three hundred miles to Winona, arriving at that place on the 20th of 
December, and from this was transported to Madison, Wisconsin. 

The regiment next left the state, this time southward, on the 17th of 
February, 1863, and after the usual experience reached Young's Point, Louisiana, 
on the 4th of June. Thence, by the way of Haines Blut^" and Snyder Blutif, 
it arrived in front of the works at Vicksburg. Excepting now and then with 
an expedition sent out against the enemy's camps (during one of which 
Providence, Louisiana, was saved- from capture), the regiment composed a 
part of the forces operating against Vicksburg. This required its presence at 
various points, among them Helena, Arkansas, Meridian, Mississippi, Canton, 
Livingston, Brownsville, Big Black River, and Union City, Kentucky. These 
various expeditions and reconnoissances were often made against disadvan- 
tageous circumstances, and covered many miles of marching. Sometimes, 
although not often, it was engaged by the enemy, who sought to prevent its 
advance. From the last-named place it moved on transport to Prout's Land- 
ing, on the Tennessee river, then to Waterloo and Moorsville, Alabama, 
Decatur, Huntsville, and to the battle of Chattanooga. It was next in action 
at Resaca, losing a number of men in its successful attempt to stay the charg- 
mg confederate column which was driving General Logan's guard. Again at 
Dallas, on the 26th of May, 1864, it engaged the enemy for three hours, re- 
taining its ground although with heavy loss. The splendid fighting cjualities of 
this regiment were displayed at Kenesaw Mountain and Pine Mountain during 
which the regiment, in command of Lieutenant-Colonel Rusk, resisted de.sperate 
attempts of the enemy to drive it from the j)osition which it was assigned to hold. 
Participating in tlie general advance towards the sea, we next find it under con- 
federate fire near Decatur, where its previous record was maintained, although 
for a time being compelled to give ground against the overwhelming numbers 
of the enemy. When the conflict was over, the regiment numbered one hun- 
dred and one less than when it commenced. 

The history of the march made by Sherman to Atlanta, and from thence to 
Savannah, is familiar to all, and that history was made by the Twenty-fifth 
Wisconsin as much as by any other regiment. Fatigue marching and fighting 
duty were ])erformed by the regiment. Every expedition had a successful ter- 
mination, the enemy being unable to successfully resist it. It was close to the 
rebel Ceneral Johnston's forces near Raleigh, North Carolina, on the i6th of 
April, 1865, when notice was received that the rebel armies had surrendered. 



362 



HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 



Through the Carolinas, and by the way of Richmond, sometimes fording and 
sometimes bridging rivers, it reached Washington on the 24th of May, taking 
part in the Grand Review, and, being mustered out of service, was sent home, 
reaching Madison, on the nth of June. 




Chapter XLVII. 

Condensed History of the Organization and Campaigns of the Twenty-sixth, Twenty- 
seventh, Twenty-eighth, Twenty-ninth and Thirtieth Infantry Regiments. 

The Twenty-sixth Wisconsin Infantry Regiment. 

Mustered into service, August 17th, 1862. 

Mustered out of service, June 13th, 1865. 

Campaigned in Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Alabama, 
Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina. 

Engagements: Locus Grove, Gettysburg, Brown's Ferry, Mission Ridge, 
Buzzard Roost, Resaca, Kenesaw Mountain, Powder Springs, Peach Tree 
Creek, Atlanta, Averysboro, Black River, Dallas, Bentonville. 

Original strength, 1,002. Total strength, 1,080. Death loss, 254. Killed 
and wounded, 438. 

This regiment left Camp Sigel, Milwaukee, on the 6th of October, 1862, 
going into winter quarters at Stafford Court House,* Virginia, until the opening 
of the spring campaign. On May i, 1863, occurred the battle of Chancel- 
lorsville. The gallant service of the regiment was attested by over two hun- 
dred of its number in killed, wounded and prisoners. It arrived at Gettysburg, 
on the first of July, 1863, going immediately into action, meeting with a loss 
of forty-one killed and one hundred and thirty-seven wounded. On the third 
day, after a reconnoissance, it was discovered that the enemy had retreated, and 
the regiment followed in pursuit to Williamsport, from whence it marched back 
into Virginia. 

Late in September, 1863, having been assigned to the Army of the Cum- 
berland, it proceeded to Nashville, Tennessee, and was occupied on fatigue and 
picket duty, with fre(iuent reconnoitering expeditions and skirmishes, moving 
from point to point in Lookout valley until the battle of Mission Ridge, going 
in pursuit of the enemy after its retreat until the 5th of December, when fur- 
ther chase was abandoned. During this campaign, it suftered great hardships, 
some being without shoes and others without blankets. Food was also scanty. 
They were compelled to depend on the often-devastated country for their 
rations and forage. During the winter, picket guard and fatigue duty on rail- 
roads and on fortifications occupied the attention of the regiment. 

Participating in the general movement under General Sherman, the com- 
mand left Lookout valley on the 2d of May, and marched by way of Taylor's 
Ridge and (iordon's Springs to Buzzard Roost, where the enemy resisted; the 

863 



364 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

regiment sustained some loss. On the 15th, they assaulted the works at 
Resaca, losing, during the day, forty-six killed and wounded. With Sherman's 
army the Twenty-sixth took part in the battles of Dallas, Pine Knob, Kenesaw 
Mountain, Powder Spring and Peach Tree Creek, winning golden opinions 
from the brigade commander, who says ni his report: "The brave, skillful, 
and determined manner in which it met the attack and drove back the enemy 
could not be excelled by the troops in this or any other army, and is worthy of 
the highest commendation and praise." 

September 4th, the regiment entered Atlanta, and a month later set out 
on the great March to the Sea, participating in all the movements until Savan- 
nah was reached; Sherman's Christmas gift to the nation was ours. Then 
commenced the movement northward, destroying railroad bridges and the 
enemy's supplies, participating in the battles of Averysboro and Bentonville, 
going into camp at Goldsboro the latter part of March, 1865. During the 
month of April, it remained in the Carolinas, doing camp duty, and, on the 
30th, commenced its northward march, arriving at Alexandria, Virginia, on 
the 19th of May, and, after taking part in the Orand Review at Washington on 
the 24th of May, was mustered out, reaching home on the 17th, where it was 
paid off and disbanded. 

The Twenty-seventh Wisconsin Infantry Regiment. 

Mustered into service, March 7, 1863. 

Mustered out August 29, 1865. 

Campaigned in Kentucky, Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, Alabama and 
Texas. 

Engagements: Okolona, Prairie d' Ane, Jenkin's Ferry, Spanish Fort. 

Original strength, 865. Total strength, 1,106. Death loss, 248. 

This regiment left Camp Sigel, Milwaukee, on the i6th of March, 1863, 
and moved by the way of Columbus, Snyder's Bluff and Helena, going into 
camp at Little Rock, Arkansas, departing from there the latter part of March, 
1864, to take part in the celebrated Red river expedition. At Okolona the 
command engaged in a severe skirmish with the enemy, losing six in killed and 
wounded. On the 1 6th of April, having arrived at Camden, farther advance 
of the expedition was abandoned and our men ordered to Little Rock and, on 
the way, participated in the battle at Jenkin's Ferry, losing about twenty in 
killed and wounded. 

Stationed at and near this place, doing cam]3 and guard duty, until the 
7th of February, 1865, when it embarked at Little Rock, landmg on the 25th 
at Navy Cove, Alabama, and a month later went into position in the trenches 
at Spanish Fort, remaining there until the termination of the siege, losing twelve 
in killed and wounded. After the evacuation of the fort, the regiment marched 



WISCONSIN IN THK CIVIL WAR. 365 

to Hlakely and took part in the capture of Mobile. It remained in that 
vicinity until the first of June, doing camp antl guard duty, building fortifica- 
tions, etc., then again embarking in transports it reached Texas and was 
mustered out the latter part of August, and sent home by the way of the Mis- 
sissippi river. It arrived at Madison on the i 7th of September, 1865, and was 
paid oft" and disbanded. 

Tm, 'rWENlT-EIGHTH WISCONSIN InF.\N1RV RkCIMENT. 

Mustered into service, October 14th, 1S62. 

Mustered out of service, August 23, 1865. 

Campaigned in Kentucky, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Texas. 

Engagements: Helena, Mt. Alba, Mark's Mills, Spanish Fort. 

After three months of drill and discipline, this regiment left Camp Wash- 
burn, Milwaukee, on the 20th of December, for Columbus, Kentucky. It took 
part in the unsuccessful White river and Yazoo Pass expeditions, during which 
the health of the Northern boys suftered to a great extent. In performance of 
camp, post and garrison duty, and the erection of fortifications, the regiment 
remained at Helena, Arkansas (participating in the battle of Helena on the 4th 
of July), until the 6th of August, when it was transferred to the Army of Ar- 
kansas, and accompanied General Steele in his expedition against Little Rock. 
Marching by way of Clarendon, it reached Duvall's Bluft", on the 23d, from 
whence it marched on the 31st, and reached Little Rock on September loth. 
With the exception of occasional expeditions in pursuit of the enemy, the 
Twenty-eighth, having been ordered to join General Clayton's command at Pine 
Bluff, sixty miles from Little Rock on the Arkansas river, where the regiment 
arrived on the loth of November, and went into winter quarters, it was oc- 
cupied in picket and garrison duty until the 27th of March, 1864, when it took 
part in the battle at Mt. Alba. The enemy was put to flight, leaving one 
hundred in killed and wounded on the field, and three hundred and twenty 
prisoners in our hands. The regiment remained in camp at Pine Bluft* until 
the 30th of November, 1864, when it was relieved and returned to Little Rock, 
on December 2d. On being ordered to report at New Orleans, the Twenty- 
eighth embarked and descended the White and Mississippi rivers to Algiers, 
where it changed boats and landed at Mobile Point on the 25th of February, 
1865. On the 27th of March, it took position in the trenches at Spanish Fort, 
where our boys were employed in siege and fatigue duty. It remained in Ala- 
bama until the 31st of May, when the regiment was placed in transports and 
ordered to join our forces in Texas, here it was engaged in garrison and fatigue 
(lut\- until the 24th of .Vugust, when it was mustered out and sent home, arriv- 
ing on the 15th of September, 1865, at Madison, where it was paid and dis- 
banded. 



366 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

The Twenty-ninth Wisconsin Infantry Regiment. 

Mustered into service, September 27th, 1862. 

Mustered out of service, June 16, 1865. 

Campaigned in Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama. 

Engagements : Grand Gulf, Port Gibson, Champion Hills, Vicksburg, 
Jackson, Opelousas, Sabine Cross Roads, Clouterville, Atchafalaya, Simmsport, 
Spanish Fort, Blakely. 

Original strength, 961. Total strength, i,o8g. Death loss, 296. Killed 
and wounded in battle, 218. 

On the 2d of November, 1862, this regiment left Camp Randall, Madison, 
and joined the Army of the Southwest, at Helena, Arkansas, remaining during 
the winter in the vicinity of Helena, doing camp, guard and picket duty, 
with the exception of a few skirmishes with the guerrillas. Early m April it was 
attached to the Thirteenth army corps, and, participating in the movement 
against Vicksburg, made an attack on Grand Gulf, and failing in this enter- 
prise, the men were marched to Port Gibson, Mississippi, where they arrived 
on the ist of May, 1863. The city was captured the 29th, our regiment losing 
seventy-live in killed and wounded. The march was resumed, and on the i6th 
of May, 1863, the enemy was discovered at Champion Hills. The battle 
immediately commenced, and after an all day's fight, the union troops were 
compelled to fall back, the enemy receiving reinforcements. The Twenty- 
ninth had captured three hundred prisoners, a stand of colors, a battery of brass 
pieces, and sustained a loss of ninety-five in killed. On the 22d, it took part 
in the unfortunate assault on the enemy's works at Vicksburg, and remained in 
the trenches until its surrender, when it moved toward Jackson to participate 
in the siege of that place. After its evacuation the regiment returned to Vicks- 
burg, remaining there until the 6th of August, 1863. During the fall and 
winter the boys were engaged in marching and countermarching through Mis- 
sissippi and Louisiana, taking part in the battles of Carrion Crow, Opelousas, 
and the secret expedition to Spanish Lake, where was captured one hundred 
and fourteen prisoners, participating in the Texas expedition, and so forth, 
until the 13th of March, 1864, when detailed to take part in the celebrated Red 
river expedition. On the 8th of April, the Badgers met the enemy at Sabine 
Cross Roads, losing sixty-three men in killed, wounded and prisoners. They 
were ordered to retreat, arriving on the 23d at Clouterville, where the passage 
of the river was disputed, and after a stubborn engagement, the enemy was 
driven back. In the early part of May, they engaged in building the dam 
across the Red river, which enabled our fleets to pass over the rapids in safety. 

After this task was completed, the Twenty-ninth resumed its march, tak- 
ing part in the battles of Marksville and Simmsport. It encamped at Morgan- 
zia, Mississippi, May 22d, and remained doing guard and picket duty until 



WISCONSIN IN THE CIVIL WAR. 367 

the 13th of June, when, at Algiers, the regiment was ordered to CUfton, march- 
ing twenty-four hours with only two minutes' rest. During the months of 
September and October, the regiment campaigned in Arkansas. On the 13th 
of November, it was ordered to participate in an expedition to capture mules 
for the quartermaster's department, which it did. Until the 5th of February, 
1865, the Twenty-ninth remained in Alabama and Mississipi)i, employed in 
heavy fatigue and picket duty, when it moved to Spanish Fort to take part in 
the siege of that place. Until the 25th of May, 1865, the regiment was en- 
gaged in provost-guard duty at Mobile, when it moved, via New Orleans, to 
Shreveport and there remained until the close of the war, being mustered out 
at Madison, Wisconsin, on the 17th of July, 1865. 

The Thirtieth Wisconsin Infantrv Regiment 

Mustered in, October 21, 1862. 

Mustered out, September 20, 1865. 

Campaigned in Missouri, Dakota, Wisconsin, Kentucky. 

Original strength, 906. Total strength, 1,219. Death loss, 69. Killed 
and wounded in action, 4. 

This regiment was mustered into the United States service on the 21st of 
October, 1862, and remained at Camp Randall, engaged in various duties, 
until the 2d of May, 1863, when four companies were ordered to the Missouri 
river, as guard for transports to be used in the Indian expedition. They were 
engaged in this duty until the 12th of December, when they returned to camp 
at Milwaukee. During the summer of 1863, the various companies were 
detached and sent to dififerent parts of the state, to assist in maintaining order 
during the draft. In the month of March, 1864, detachments of the regiment 
were ordered to points in Dakota, to take part in General Sully's campaign 
against the Indians. 

The regiment was subsequently sent into camp at Louisville, where- it 
remained on guard duty until the 12th of December, then was moved to 
Bowling Oreen, and, on the loth of January, back to Louisville. From this 
point the regiment was transported to Frankfort and employed in garrison 
duty. The command was mustered out on the 20th of September, and, on the 
25th, arrived at Madison, where it was paid off and disbanded. 




iiH^liilii (ill \«u\pk*'i\ *^ 




Mammoth Hot Springs. 



Chapter XLVIII. 

Condensed History of the Organization and Campaigns of the Thirty-first, Thirty-sec- 
ond, Thirty-third, Thirty-fourth and Thirty-fifth Infantry Regiments. 

The Thirty-first Wisconsin Infantry Regiment. 

Mustered in, October 9, 1862. 

Mustered out, July 8, 1865. 

Campaigned in Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, South Carolina, North 
Carolina. 

Engagements: Atlanta, Savannah, Averysboro, Bentonville. 

This regiment left Camp Utley on the first of March, 1863, and went into 
camp at Fort Halleck, Kentucky. While there it was engaged in i)icket duty, 
with occasional reconnoissances through the surrounding country, and during 
the month of October emj^loyed in guarding the Nashville and Chattanooga 
railroad. The latter part ofOctober it marched to Murfreesboroand went into 
camp. During the winter, part of the regiment was employed in building 
fortifications. From the first of March until the last of June a battalion was 
mounted and did valuable service in Tennessee. 

July i6th, it left Nashville and proceeded to Atlanta, arriving there on the 
21st, and at once went into the trenches and engaged in siege and picket duty 
until the surrender of the ])]ace, when the regiment was stationed within the 
fortifications on guard duty as a part of the garrison. On the 15th of Novem- 
ber, 1864, the Thirty-first left Atlanta and proceeded to Savannah, participat- 
ing in a number of engagements until it took position in front of Savannah, 
and after its surrender, ivas jolaced within the city as part of the garrison. 

January i8th, 1865, the command started on the northward march, but 
was detained for sometime in South Carolina on account of the heavy rains 
and floods. During the march through the Carolinas, this regiment per- 
formed its full share of duty. It was in the front at the battle of Averysboro, 
losing thirteen men in killed and wounded, and at the battle of Bentonville 
held its ground and repulsed the enemy five different times. During this en- 
gagement it lost sixty men in killed, wounded and missing. After the sur- 
render of Johnston's army the regiment marched northward to .Alexandria, 
thence to Washington, and took jjart in the Grand Review of all the armies of 
the union. On the loth of June left Washington and went home by the way 
of Louisville, arriving at Madison the last of June, where it was i)aid oft" and 
disbanded. 

3C9 



370 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

The Thirty-second Wisconsin Infantry Regiment. 

Mustered in, September 25, 1862. 

Mustered out, June 12, 1865. 

Campaigned in Tenne.ssee, Alabama, Crcorgia, North Carolina, South 
Carolina. 

Engagements: Courtland, Atlanta, Little Ogeechie River, Savannah, 
Bentonville, Salkahatchie. 

Original strength, 993. Total strength, 1,474. Death loss, 275. Killed 
and wounded in action, 102. 

This regiment left Camp Bragg, at Oshkosh, on the 30th of October, and 
joined General Sherman's command at Memphis, accompanying him on his 
Jackson expedition. On its way thither it rebuilt the bridge across the Talla- 
hatchia river, and was the first to enter Holly Springs after its recapture. From 
January, 1863, until the 26th of November, it was engaged in provost duty at 
Memphis. On the 2d of December it was marched to Moscow, Tennessee, 
to repulse General Lee's attack, and arrived in time to save Colonel Hatch's 
cavalry from capture. It took part in General Sherman's Meridian expedition, 
and destroyed a pontoon bridge across the Pearl river, and tore up railroad 
tracks on the line of the Mobile and Vicksburg railway, returning to Vicks- 
burg via Marion, Union, Canton, Livingston and Brownsville. 

We next find it saihng up the Tennessee river and landing at Waterloo, 
Alabama, after spending the month of March in Tennessee. The regiment was 
stationed at Decatur, employed in guard duty and in building fortifications, 
participating, on the 25th of May, in a brisk skirmish with the enemy, which 
resulted in the capture of one piece of artillery. On the 28th of June it sur- 
rounded a rebel camp at Courtland and captured forty-nine men, with wagons, 
and other camp and garrison equipage. On the 24th of July, while guarding 
a wagon-train, the regiment was surrounded by a superior force of rebels, but 
escaped with a loss of eight men. 

On the 4th of August, it moved to Atlanta and took position in the 
trenches, where it remained under heavy fire until the 26th, when the Thirty- 
second moved to Jonesboro, and took part in the battle which ensued, losing 
twenty-one in killed and wounded. It was stationed here on picket duty 
until October, then moved back to Atlanta, performing guard and fatigue duty 
until the 15th of November, when the Badger boys set out with Sherman on 
his great March to the Sea. Their experience in this march, and the north- 
ward march which followed, was similar to that of other Wisconsin regiments 
heretofore described more fully. They took part in the capture of Savannah, 
the battles of Salkahatchie and Bentonville, and, after the surrender of John- 
ston, in the march to Washington, via Richmond. At the capital they par- 



WISCONSIN IN THE CIVIL WAR. 371 

ticipated in the (Irand Review, and set out for home on the 12th, after being 
mustered out. On their arrival at Milwaukee, they were paid oft' and dis- 
banded. 

The Thirty-third Wisconsin Infantry Regiment. 

Mustered in, October 18, 1862. 

Mustered out, August 8, 1865, 

Campaigned in Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, 
Alabama. 

Engagements : Herrando, Coldwater, Vicksburg, Jackson, Coushatte, 
Pleasant Hill Landing, Moore Plantation, Marksville, Camargo Cross Roads, 
Tupelo, Old Town Creek, Granny White's Pike, Spanish Fort, Blakely. 

Original strength, 892. Total strength, 1,066. Death loss, 196. Killed 
and wounded in action, 123. 

This regiment left Camp Utiey, Racine, on the 12th of November, arriv- 
ing at Memphis, from whence it took part in the expedition against Jackson, on 
the 26th of November. On their way southward the men were constantly em- 
ployed in building bridges, removing obstructions which the enemy had placed 
in the road to impede their progress, and other work of like nature. 

Being transferred to the First brigade of General Lauman's command, it 
marched to Yacona Creek, where the division was encamped. During the 
months of January and February, and the early part of March, the command 
remained at Moscow on guard duty until ordered to Memphis to recuperate, 
the health of the regiment having suffered at their former post. In pursuit of 
the enemy it participated in the action at Coldwater, but was driven back for 
lack of reinforcements. The Thirty-third took part in a skirmish at Hernando, 
which resulted in the capture of seventy-five rebel prisoners. 

By way of Young's Point and Snyder's JJluft" the command moved to Vicks- 
burg and went into the trenches, being exposed to the enemy's fire continuously. 
Three times it captured the confederate rifle-pits, and at last succeeded in 
holding them. On the morning of the 5th of July, the Badger boys moved out 
of the trenches, and proceeded towards Jackson. The action at this place has 
been so well told in other histories that it is unneces.sary to repeat it here, except 
to say that the Thirty-third did its full share of duty, if not more, in that terrible 
conflict. From here it went to Natchez, and engaged in guard provost duty until 
the ist of December, at which date it eml)arked and went into winter quarters at 
Milldale. After taking part in the celebrated Meridian expedition, the regi- 
ment remained at Hel)ron doing guard and picket duty until the 9th of March, 
1864. when the command joined the Red river expedition. Its part in that 
ill-fated campaign was bravely performed, and, on the 20th of May, it returned 
to Vicksburg. On the 22d of June the Thirty-third left Memphis, accom- 



372 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

panying the expedition into the interior of Mississippi. During extremely hot 
weather it reached Tupelo, on the 14th of July, and participated in the en- 
gagement at that place, driving the enemy, but provisions being nearly ex- 
hausted, was compelled to turn back, losing in the expedition forty-two in 
killed and wounded. During the month of August, the regiment was em- 
ployed in guard duty and in building fortifications at St. Charles, Arkansas. 
On the 17th of September, the command was sent in pursuit of the rebel 
general. Price. Marching by way of Austin, Stony Point, Searcy and 
Elgin, and finding it impossible to ford the Black river at that point, it was 
compelled to build a bridge three hundred and seventy-five feet long. On 
the 5th of October, Cape Girardeau was reached. The regiment having 
marched three hundred and twenty-four miles in nineteen days, built two bridges 
and forded four rivers, and had only received ten days' rations. 

Embarking at the Cape, on the 7th of October, it reached St. Louis, and 
was immediately sent up the Missouri river on a campaign against Price. On 
the 23d of November, being ordered to join the army under Thomas at Nash- 
ville, where, on the 15th and i6th of December, it took part in that battle, and, 
on the 17th, commenced a march in pursuit of Hood's retreating army until it 
was across the Tennessee river. During the winter the Thirty-third was en- 
gaged in guarding trains, marching and countermarching, until the 25th, when 
the regiment was put in motion and proceeded to Spanish Fort to take part in 
the siege of Mobile. Until the 8th of April it was engaged in heavy fatigue 
duty, losing in killed and wounded, fifty-one brave boys. 

On the 9th, they moved to Blakely, arriving on the 13th of April, and 
was engaged in picket and jjrovost duty until the 21st. On this date it was 
ordered to proceed to Vicksburg for the purpose of being mustered out, which 
place it left on the 8th of August, arriving at Madison on the 14th, and was 
paid and disbanded on the ist of September. 

The Thirty-fourth Wisconsin Infantry Regiment. 

Mustered in, December 31, 1862. 

Mustered out, September 8, 1863. 

Campaigned in Kentucky. 

Original strength, 961. Death loss, 20. 

This regiment was mustered in for nine months' service on the 31st of 
December, 1862, under the direction of Colonel Fritz Anneke,* leaving the state 
on the 2ist of lanuary, and was stationed at Columbus, Kentucky, until the 
latter part of August, when, its term having expired, it returned to Camp 
Washburn, and was mustered out on the 8th of September. This was the only 
nine-months regiment raised in \\Tsconsin. 



WISCONSIN IN THE CIVIL WAR. 373 

Thk Thirtv-fifth Wisconsin Infantry Rk(;imknt. 

Mustered in, February 22(1, 1864. 

Mustered out, April i6t]i, 1S66. 

Campaigned in Missouri, Louisiana, Ala])ama, Texas. 

Engagement : Spanish Fort. 

Original strength, 1,065. Total strength, 1,088. Death loss, 235. 
Killed and wounded in battle, 17. 

On the 18th of April, 1864, this regiment left Cam]) Washburn, at Mil- 
waukee, and moved by way of St. Louis and New Orleans to Port' Gibson. 
Here it remained employed in guard and picket duty until the 26th of June, 
at which date it marched to Morganzia and thence to St. Charles, Arkan.sas' 
where the command was employed in guard and picket duty, with occasional 
scouting expeditions until the .4th, when it returned to Morganzia and was simi- 
larly occupied. During the fall of 1864 and winter of 1864-1865 the regiment was 
engaged in Mississippi, and on the 27th of March took position at Spanish Fort 
remaining there until the surrender of that place early in April. Arriving too 
late to assist in the capture of P.lakely, the Thirty-fifth returned to Spanish Fort, 
and then moved by way of Whistler Station and Nannabullah Bluff to Mcintosh 
muU, where it was engaged in building fortification.s, until the surrender of the 
rebels under Taylor, when it was transported to Clarksville, Texas, via Brazos, 
Santiago. June 8th, the command moved to Brownsville, where it remained 
until mustered out on the 15th of March, 1866. On April 10th, it arrived at 
Madison and was paid off and disbanded on the i6th. 







Bouquet Ledge, Bad Lands of North Dakota. 



Chapter XLIX. 

History oi Organization, Campaigns and Engagements of the Thirty-sixth, Thirty- 
seventh, Thirty-eighth, Thirty-ninth, Fortieth, Forty-first, Forty-second, Forty-third, Forty- 
fourth, Forty-fifth, Forty-sixth, Forty-seventh, Forty-eighth, Forty-nintli, Fiftieth, Fifty- 
first, Fifty-second and Fifty-third Wisconsin Infantry Regiments. 

The Thirtv-sixth Wisconsin Infantry Regiment. 

Mustered into service, March 28, 1864. 

Mustered out of service, July 12th, 1865. 

Campaigned in Virginia. 

Engagements: North Anna, Tolopotomoy, Cold Harbor, Petersburg, 
Malvern Hills, Deep Bottom, Ream's Station, Hatcher's Run, Farmville, 
Appomatox. 

Original strength, 990. Total strength, 1,014. Death loss, 296. 
Killed and wounded in action, 407. 

On the loth of May, 1864, the Thirty-sixth left Madison, under the 
command of Colonel Frank A. Haskell, arriving at Belle Plain, Virginia, on 
the evening of the i6th of May. On the 24th, it crossed the North Anna river 
on a raft bridge and lay in a line of battle during a severe rain storm. On the 
26th, it charged the line of rebel works, capturing them with a loss of thirteen 
in killed and wounded. On the 26th of May, it threw up works fourteen miles 
from Richmond. On the ist of June, the regiment took part in the battle of 
Tolopotomoy. In one charge during this battle four companies lost, out of two 
lumdred and forty men, one hundred and forty in killed and wounded. The 
other six companies lost about fifty men. After an all night's march, the regi- 
ment took part in the engagement at Cold Harbor. During the advance on 
the rebel works, Colonel Meecham, commanding the brigade, was killed by a 
rebel bullet in the head. The regiment lost, during the day, three officers and 
seventy men in killed and wounded. 

On the 8th of June, firing was suspended and the regiment was sent for- 
ward to assist in burying the dead. On the i6th, the regiment lay before Peters- 
burg, and on the i8th, advanced, driving the rebel skirmishers across an open 
field and through the woods. Colonel Savage, who had command of the regi- 
ment, fell mortally wounded. During the day the regiment lost five officers 
and one hundred and eleven men in killed and wounded. Skirmishing was 
continued until the 26th, when the Thirty-sixth engaged in the battle of Malvern 
Hills. On the 14th of August, it took part in the engagement near Richmond, 
in which Major ^Varner, the successor of Colonel Savage, was severely wounded 

375 



376 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

and the command devolved on Captain Cannon. The regiment remained on 
the north bank of the James until the 20th of August, when, under cover of 
night, it re-crossed the James, and marching by night arrived at Ream's Station 
on the 24th. Next morning ensued the battle at that place. The regiment 
was surrounded, and out of eleven officers and one hundred and seventy men 
who went into the fight, only three officers and forty-five men escaped, the 
remainder being, for the most part, captured and sent to Salisbury, North 
Carolina, from whence not more than six returned to the regiment, and very 
few ever left the prison. 

The regiment, having lost its colors, Major-General Gibbon was ordered to 
present it with a new set in person. After the engagement at Ream's Station, 
the Thirty-sixth took part in several skirmishes, and, on the 27th of October, 
participated in an engagement at Hatcher's Run, in which the regiment cap- 
tured a large number of prisoners and a stand of colors. The brigadier-gen- 
eral wrote a letter praising the regiment to the governor of Wisconsin. 

Dunng the months of November, December and January, the regiment 
performed the usual guard duty, drill and labor on the fortifications. February 
and March, it was engaged in picket duty before Petersburg, and, on the first 
of April, in company with other regiments, the entire line of rebel works was 
captured, the command gomg in pursuit of General Lee's retreating army, par- 
ticipating in several skirmishes until the 8th of April, when the regiment had 
the .satisfaction of being present at the surrender of Lee near Aj^pomatox 
Court House. 

May 5th, it set out for the national capital, arriving within sight of it on 
the 14th, and taking part in the Grand Review on the 23d of May. The 
Thirty-sixth left Washington on the 17th of June, and arrived home, by way 
of Louisville, on the 14th ; was paid and disbanded at Madison on the 24th of 
July, 1865. 

The Thirty-seventh Wlsconsin Infantry Regiment. 

Mustered into service, April 28th, 1864. 

Mustered out of service, July 6th, 1865. 

Campaigned in Virginia. 

Engagements : Petersburg, Weldon Railroad, Ream's Station, Pegram's 
Farm, Fort Steadman, Fort Mahone. 

Original strength, 708. Total strength, 1,144. Death loss, 211. Killed 
and wounded in action, 309. 

On the 29th of April, 1864, this regiment moved to Washington, and was 
assigned to the First brigade. Third division. Ninth army corps, and on the 
15th of June, arrived before the enemy's line of works, at Petersburg. Two 
days later it participated in the as.sault on the rebel fortifications, losing one 



WISCONSIN IN THE CIVIL WAR. 377 

hundred and fifty in killed and wounded. From the 17th of June until the J5th 
of July, the regiment was employed in picket and fatigue duty in the front of 
the rebel rifle-pits, exposed to severe fire. In the Burnside mine aftair, on the 
30th of July, it charged the rebel works, but was forced to retire from lack of 
support. The regiment lost one hundred and fifty-five in killed and wounded 
and missing. On the 21st of August, it \vas set to work constructing a line of 
works across the Weldon railroad, and just before it was completed, the rebels 
made another attempt to secure the road, during which the regiment suffered 
severely. On the 25th, it proceeded to Ream's Station, to reinforce the union 
troops, but took no part in that battle, remaining encamped at Blick's Station 
until the 24th of September. On the 30th, they were near being beaten at the 
South Side railroad, but, reinforcements arriving, the enemy was put to flight. 
During October and November, the regiment was engaged in picket and 
fatigue duty, and on the 30th of November, the regiment took position in 
the woods near the front line of the enemy's works and was more or 
less exposed to the enemy's fire. From the 8th to the nth of December, 
it was engaged in marching to reinforce the Second and Fifth army 
corps. Through sleet, ice and snow, the men struggled on and were all com- 
pletely exhausted as they straggled into camp at Hawkins' Tavern. Many 
were unable to get their feet into their boots, and bound them to the soles of 
their feet, and in this way marched two miles on their return to camp on the 
Baxter road, there going into winter quarters until the opening of the spring 
cam])aign. The 2d of April, 1865, the regiment was part of the assaulting 
column on Fort Mahone, and the next morning marched into Petersburg, vic- 
torious. 

Until the surrender of Lee, the regiment remained on the South Side rail- 
road, in the vicinity of Wellsville, when it commenced the march to Washing- 
ton, encamping near Tennallytown, taking part, on the 23d of May, in the 
Grand Review, and on the 26th of July, was mustered out of service, and 
arrived at Madison on the 30th, where it was paid and disbanded. 

The Thir TV-eighth Wisconsin Infantry Regiment. 

Mustered into service, April 15, 1864. 

Mustered out of service, July 6, 1865. 

Campaigned in Virginia. 

Engagements: Cold Harbor, Petersburg, Weldon Railroad, Poplar 
Grove Church, Hatcher's Run, Fort Steadman, Fort Mahone. 

Original strength, 913. Total strength, 1,032. Deathless, 166. Killed 
and wounded in action, 118. 

With little time allowed for preparatory drill and discipline, five compa- 
nies of this regiment left Camp Randall, on the 3d of May, under the com- 



378 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

mand of Lieutenant-Colonel Pier. They arrived at Arlington Heights, and 
were assigned to the Third brigade, First division, Ninth army corps, and, on 
the nth of June, were ordered into the front line of trenches at Cold Harbor, 
losing two men during the day. On the i6th, they took position before Peters- 
burg, occupying a captured, rebel earthwork, exposed to the severe fire of the 
enemy. It did not falter for a moment, but made the ascent, and captured 
the entrenchments. During these engagements the regiment lost in killed and 
wounded fifty-two men. Shovehng by night, and shooting by day, the httle 
command continued in the rifle-pits and trenches until the 4th of July, 1864, 
when it was relieved, and allowed a brief period of comparative rest. 

On the morning of the 30th, Companies B and E being posted at the 
extreme front, upon the explosion of Burnside's mine, the regiment that had 
been ordered to lead faltering, these companies rushed forward under a terrible 
fire, and occupied the captured mine until three in the afternoon, when they 
were compelled to retire, having lost twenty out of less than one hundred men 
engaged. Thenceforward they were engaged in constant siege and picket 
duty until the 19th of August, when they took part in the movement for the 
capture of the Weldon railroad, and, on the 22d of August, and after a severe 
engagement, the battalion repulsed the rebel assault and fortified its position. 
From this date until the fall of Petersburg, the Thirty-eighth was employed on 
the left wing of the army. At Poplar Grove Church, September 30th, being 
suddenly overpowered while supporting a battery, the men saved the guns by 
drawing them off the field with ropes. On the first of October, the remaining 
five companies joined the regiment, wWch was then transferred to the First 
brigade. First division. Ninth army corps. On the 24th of March, 1865, 
Lieutenant-Colonel Pier was placed in command of the One Hundred and 
Ninth New York, which he retained until the regiment reached Washington 
at the close of the war. On the first of April, 1865, it led the right wing of 
the assaulting column that stormed and carried Fort Mahone. On the third, it 
entered Petersburg, and, the next day, marched in pursuit of the retreating 
foe, going into camp near Wellsville, where it remained until headed for 
Washington on the 20th, encamping at Tennallytown, near the capital, until 
the 23d of May, when it participated in the Grand Review, and subsequently 
remained in camp until the 6th of June, when it set out for home, arriving on 
the 10th at Madison, and was paid and disbanded on the nth of August, tSGk,. 

The One Hundred Days Troops, 

(Thirty-ninth, Fortieth, Forty-first Infantry.) 

Mustered in, June, 1864. 

Mustered out, September, 1864. 

Campaigned in Illinois and Tennessee — guard duty, principally. 



WISCONSIN IN THE CIVIL WAR. 379 

These three regiments comprised Wisconsin's contribution to the one hun- 
dred days troops, and were sent forward in 1864, arriving at Memphis, on the 
17th of June. The regiments were placed within the fortifications, employed 
principally in garrison, fatigue and railroad duty, and participating in occa- 
sional skirmishes. On the morning of the 20th of August, they put to flight 
the rebel General Forrest's force of cavalry, numbering about five thousand. 
At the beginning of September, their term of service havmg expired, they re- 
turned to Wisconsin, and were mustered out on the 14th, at Camp Randall. 

The Forty-second Wisconsin Infantry Regiment. 

Mustered in, September 7th, 1864. 

Mustered out, June 20th, 1865. 

Campaigned in Illinois. 

Employed in guard duty. 

Original strength, 877. Total strength, 1,008. Death loss, 57. 

This regiment was mustered into the service of the United States on the 
7th of September, 1864, and was stationed in Illinois, in the discharge of post 
and garrison duty. At various times companies of this regiment were detached 
and sent to difterent parts of the state. On the 20th of June, 1865, it was 
mustered out, paid and di.sbanded at Madison, Wisconsin. 

The Forty-third Wisconsin Infantry Regiment. 

Mustered in, October, 1864. 

Mustered out, June 24th, 1866. 

Campaigned in Tennessee. 

This regiment left Camp AV'ashburn, with orders to report at Nashville, to 
Major-General Sherman. From there it was transferred to Johnsonville, and on 
tlic 4th, 5th and 6th of November was exposed to the enemy's fire, losing 
two men in killed and wounded. On the 20th of November the regiment left 
Johnsonville and marched, by way of Waverly, to Clarksville, where it re- 
mained until the 28th of December, when it embarked and reached Dechard, 
by way of Nashville, and was occupied in provost and guard duty there until 
the beginning of June, when the command was mustered out of service and 
left for home, where it was paid and disbanded. 

The Forty-fourth Wisconsin Infantry Regiment. 

Mustered, in, November, 1864. 

Mustered out, August, 1865. 

Campaigned in Tennessee, Missi.ssipi)i, Kentucky. 

Engagement : Nashville. 

Original strength, 877. Total strength, 1,114. Death loss, 57. 



380 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

During the months of October and November, 1864, five companies of 
this regiment were mustered in and sent to Nashville and participated in the 
battle at that place on the i6th and 17th of December, and remamed there, 
engaged in post and guard duty, until the 9th of March, when they were 
ordered to proceed to Eastport, Mississippi, to take charge of prisoners that 
were being sent up North. The prisoners not having arrived, the regiment 
returned to Nashville, and was employed in picket duty at that place until 
the 28th of August, and then mustered out of service. On the 2d of Sep- 
tember, 1865, it was paid off and disbanded at Madison, Wisconsin. 

The Forty-fifth Wisconsin Infantry Regiment. 

Mustered in, latter part of 1864. 

Mustered out, July 23d, 1865. 

Campaigned in Tennessee. 

Original strength, 859. Total strength, 1,001. Death loss, 26. 

This regiment was sent forward in the latter part of 1864, and the begin- 
ning of 1865, in companies, to Nashville, where they were stationed until the 
17th of July, 1865, when they were mustered out and sent home to Madison,. 
to be paid and disbanded. 

The Forty-sixth Wisconsin Infantry RegixMent. 

Mustered in, March, 1865. 

Mustered out, October, 1865. 

Campaigned in Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama. 

Original strength, 914. Total strength, 947. Death loss, 13. 

This regiment was mustered in, and sent by way of Louisville and Chicago 
to Athens, Alabama, where it was employed in guard duty until the latter part 
of September, 1865, and then transferred to Nashville, at which place the 
regiment was mustered out, returning home on the 27th of September, was 
paid and disbanded in the early part of October. 

The Forty-seventh Wisconsin Infantry Regiment. 

Mustered in, February, 1865. 

Mustered out, September, 1865. 

Campaigned in Kentucky and Tennessee. 

Engaged in guard duty. 

Original strength, 927. Total strength, 985. Death loss, 34. 

This regiment, after organization, was ordered to report to Louisville, 
where it arrived on the 28th of February, and \vas sent from there to Tulla- 
homa for guard duty until the latter part of August, when it returned to Nash- 
ville to be mustered out, and, on the 8th of September, arrived at Madison, 
and was paid and disbanded. 



WISCONSIN IN THE CIVIL WAR. 381 

The Forty-kkjhth Wisconsin Infantry Regi.ment. 

Mustered in, March, 1865. 

Mustered out, January, 1866. 

Campaigned in Missouri and Kansas. 

Under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel H. B. Shears, the Forty-eighth 
left Camp Washliurn with orders to proceed to Benton Barracks, and moved 
from thence to Paola ; Companies A, B, D, E, I, K, to Fort Scott. From Fort 
Scott, Company K was sent to Mine Creek, to protect the border against guer- 
rillas. On the i2th of June Company H was ordered to Marmaton, and, on the 
13th, Company B to erect new buildings at Fort Scott. The first named company 
rejoined its regiment on the 17th of June, and Company B on the 15th of 
August. The regiment having been ordered to Lawrence, it was generally 
thought that the regiment would be mustered out at that i^lace, and it is to its 
crecHt that there was no disposition to mutiny when it was learned that it 
would go westward again to Fort Zarak. Here various companies were 
detached to serve at different points. The regiment Avas mustered out, by 
companies, at different times, from the 30th of December, 1865, to the 24th of 
March, 1866. 

The Forty-ninth Wisconsin Infantry Regiment. 

Mustered in, March, 1865. 

Mustered out, November 5, 1865. 

Campaigned in Missouri. 

Original strength, 986. Total strength, 1,002. Death loss, 48. 

This regiment left Camp Randall, at Madison, where it had been organ- 
ized, and arrived at St. Louis, at which place it remained until the muster-out, 
on the 8th of November. It arrived at Madison shortly after, where it was 
paid off and disbanded. 

The Fiftieth Wisconsin Infantry Regiment. 

Mustered in, Aj)ril, 1865. 

Mustered out, January, 1866. 

Campaigned in Missouri and Kansas. 

Original strength, 942. Total strength, 958. Death loss, 28. 

Arriving at St. Louis the beginning of Ajiril, 1865, the Fiftieth regiment 
was ordered to Fort Leavenworth, and thence to Fort Rice, in Dakota, where it 
remained until the expiration of its term of service, when it was sent home by 
detachments. The whole regiment was mustered out on the 14th of June, 
1866, and was immediately paid and disbanded. 



382 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

The Fifty-first Infantry Regiment. 

Mustered in, May, 1865. 

Mustered out, August, 1865. 

Campaigned in Missouri. 

Original strength, 841. Total strength, 843. Death loss, 8. 

This regiment was organized during the months of March, April and May. 
The four junior companies, not having left the .state, were discharged on the 
6th of May. 

The remaining six companies were stationed at various points in Missouri, 
engaged in guard duty. On the loth of November, 1865, the Fifty-third 
Wisconsin (four companies) was joined to the Fifty-first. The regiment ar- 
rived at Madison on the 5th of August, 1865, where is was mustered out by 
companies, at dates ranging from the i6th to the 30th of August. 

The Fifty-second Wisconsin Infantry Regiment. 

Campaigned in Missouri, Kansas. 

Original strength, 486. Total strength, 511. Death loss, 6. 

The Fifty-second regiment, composed of five companies, was sent to St. 
Louis, whence it was ordered to Warrensburg, but marched to Bolton, where 
it was engaged in guarding the Pacific railroad workmen, and furnishing scout- 
ing parties against the guerrillas who infested the surrounding country. On 
the 26th of June it set out for Fort Leavenworth, and was mustered out on the 
28th of July, and arrived home on the 2d day of August, 1865, where it was 
paid off and disbanded. 

The Fifty-third Wisconsin Infantry Regiment. 

Only four companies of this regiment were ever mustered in, the re- 
mainder having been discharged, when orders came from the general govern- 
ment to cease enlistments. 

It proceeded to St. Louis and thence to Fort Leavenworth, where it was 
consolidated with the Fifty-first Wisconsin. 




(i()\ KkNok diokt.i'. W . 1'kck. 



Chapter L. 

Condensed History of the Celebrated Berdan Sharpshooters. — Organization and En- 
gagements of the First, Second, Tiiird and Fourth Cavalry. — Milwaukee Cavalry. — The 
First Heavy Artillery Regiment. 

Company G, Berdan Sharpshooters. 

Mustered in, September, 1861. Mustered out, 226. of September, 1864. 
Campaigned in Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania. 

Engagements : Great Bethel, Cockledown, Yorktown, Hanover Court 
House, Mechanicsville, Gaines Hill, Charles City Court House, Malvern Hills, 
Bull Run, Antietam, Blackburn Ford, Fredericksburg, Ely's Ford, Chancellors- 
ville, Gettysburg, Wapping Heights, Auburn, Kelly's Ford, Locust Grove, 
Mine Run, Wilderness, Todds Tavern, Spottsylvania, North Anna, Tolopoto- 
moy Creek, Cold Harbor, Jerusalem Plank Road, Charles City Road, Deep 
Run, Petersburg. 

Original strength, 105. Total strength, 194. Death loss, 34. Killed 
and wounded in action, 52. 

This company was organized at Camp Randall during the early part of 
September, 1861. Being intended that the best marksmen possible should be 
procured, it was ordered that " No man be accepted who cannot, when firing 
at rest, at two hundred yards, put ten consecutive shots in the target, not to 
exceed five inches from the center of the buli's eye." 

Eighty strong it reached Weehawken, New Jersey, October 3, 1861, and 
while there recruited to over one hundred. This regiment of sharpshooters 
was composed of ten companies raised in the states of New York, Michigan, 
New Hampshire, Vermont and Wisconsin. Their uniform consisted of a dark 
green coat and cap, with light blue trousers. 

The spring campaign of 1862 found them in the rifle-pits before York- 
town, and thence constantly employed in their hazardous duties during 
McClellan's Peninsula campaign, which ended so disastrously to the national 
cause. The campaign and battles of Mannassas, Second Bull Run and An- 
tietam followed in c^uick succession and then later Fredericksburg, in all of 
which the sharpshooters earned great honors by their daring conduct and 
skillful marksmanship. In fact, theirs is the history of the Army of the Potomac 
re])eated. 

383 



384 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

Starting from their winter quarters at Falmouth on the 28th of April, 
1863, they reached Chancellorsville, and took j^art in the desperate engagement 
on the 2d and 3d of May, remaining in one position constantly under fire for 
seventeen hours without being relieved even to obtain water. Then followed 
the Gettysburg campaign and the battle, and subsequent pursuit of the de- 
feated enemy. They occupied various camps near Culpeper Court House, 
until the nth of October, and then took part in the movement of the army to 
intercept the confederate attack on our rear, which having been accomplished, 
the company was employed at Cedar Runs in picket and outpost duty, until 
the 7th of November, 1863, at which date it participated in the battle at Kel- 
ly's Ford. For the gallantry displayed in this action the sharpshooters were 
highly complimented. From the 8th to the 26th of November the regiment 
was in winter quarters at Bott's Farm, at which date it crossed the Rapidan 
and took part in the successful battle at Locust Grove. 

Participating in the general movement of the army under Grant, the 
sharpshooters arrived on the evening of May 5th, 1864, at the battle of the 
Wilderness, while the armies were engaged. Into this seething cauldron of 
flame and death, as well as the succeeding battles of Spottsylvania, South Anna 
and Cold Harbor, the company entered, and its heroism at all times is attested 
by its losses. On the 15th of June the sharpshooters took position before 
Petersburg and remained engaged in picket, fatigue and guard duty, and ex- 
cursions against the confederate right and left wings until the expiration of their 
term of service on the 22d of September, 1864, and were mustered out on the 
field, after three years of hazardous and successful exploits unparalleled in 
the history of the war. 

The First Wisconsin Cavalry Regiment. 

Mustered in, March 8, 1862. Mustered out, July 9, 1865. Campaigned 
in Missouri, Tennessee, Arkansas, Alabama, Georgia. 

Engagements: Patterson, Chickamauga, Anderson's Gap, Mossy Creek, 
Danbridge, Vanell's Station, Burnt Hickory, Chattachoochie, Beechtown, 
Campbelltown, Hopkinsville, E^lizabethtown, Centerville, Montgomery, Tus- 
keegee, Fort Tyler. 

Original strength, 1,124. Total strength, 2,602. Deathloss, 373. Killed 
and wounded in battle, 204. 

The first cavalry regiment from Wisconsin left the state on the 14th of 
March, 1862, and was quartered at Benton Barracks until the 28th of April, 
when it embarked for Cape Girardeau, from where companies of the regiment 
were detached and sent to various points in Missouri, and reunited in October. 
They moved by way of Greenville to Patterson and there remained during the 
months of November and December. In the begmning of 1863 the regiment 



WISCONSIN IN THE CIVIL WAR. 385 

was at ^\'est IMains, Pilot Knob, St. Genivieve and Cape Girardeau. Leaving 
the latter i)lace on the 31st of May it was assigned to i)ositi()n in the cavalry 
corps of the army of the Cumberland, and thereafter stationed at various 
points during the summer. It was engaged with the cavalry at Chickamauga 
and went into camp at Larkinsville, Alabama, and remained until the first of 
October, at which date, marching with the brigade to Jasper, Tennessee, it was 
learned that Wheeler's command had burned a supply train near Anderson's 
Gap, on the Nashville and Chattanooga railway. The advance moved rapidly 
and encountered the rebels a short distance from tlie train. The enemy re- 
treated for a few miles and in the skirmish which took place, thirty-seven of 
them were killed and wounded, and forty-two prisoners captured, our regi- 
ment's loss being about eight. 

We next find it on the i6th at Winchester, Tennessee, where they re- 
mained in camp until the 20th of November, when, moving by way of Mur- 
freesboro, Alexandria and Sparta, they took part in the affair at New Market. 
On the 29th, the cavalry met the rebel forces at Mossy Creek, driving them 
across the stream, with the loss of a number of prisoners. Our regiment en- 
camped at that place until the, 14th of January, when again mounting moved 
to l)anl)ridge and participated on the 17th in the battle at that place, losing 
thirty-two in killed and wounded. May 3d they accompanied the march of 
General Sherman's forces, taking part m daily actions. On the 26th of May 
five companies of the regiment attacked a brigade of rebel cavalry near Dallas, 
routing the enemy with great loss and capturing forty-seven men. 

The First cavalry participated in the skirmishes at Ackworth and Big 
Shanty, taking part in frequent engagements before Lost Mountain and finally 
moving with the expedition to the rear of Atlanta, on the 27th of July. The 
regiment, in passing through Campbelltown, attacked a force of two thousand 
rebels, and after a severe engagement were compelled to retire, and returned 
{() Marietta and thence to Cartersville, where they remained employed in scout- 
ing and forage duty until the i6th of October, 1864, when they were ordered 
to Louisville, reaching that place November 9th. 

After being reunited, the regiment left here on the 4th of December, and 
by way of Bowling Green to Hoj^kinsville, where, on the i6th, they drove the 
enemy, capturing two pieces of artillery and fifteen prisoners. Moving in pur- 
suit they again encountered the confederates at Elizabethtown and pursuit was 
abandoned. Returning to Bowling Green, Kentucky, it again broke camp on 
the 2d of January, 1865, marching by way of Franklin, Nashville and Colum- 
bia to ^^'aterIoo, Alabama, arriving on the 24th of January and remained until 
the lotli of March, at which date the regmienl went by way of Chickamauga 
to Jasper, and thence to Clayton and Montevallo. Early on the morning of the 
2d of April, the First cavalry engaged in a skirmish with Jackson's cavalry, los- 



^86 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

ing five men. On the 6th they arrived at Sehna, Alabama, moving eastward 
on the 9th and encountering the enemy's cavalry, forced it back and entered 
Montgomery on the 12th. In April it engaged the enemy near Tuskeegee, 
capturing one hundred prisoners and losing sixty in killed and wounded. 
Again taking up the march, our men captured Fort Tyler, with two hundred 
prisoners, during which they lost twenty-one men in killed and wounded. 
They remained in camp at Macon until the 6th of May, when ordered to in- 
tercept the flight of Jefterson Davis. 

While on the march, the First cavalry met the Fourth Michigan cavalry, 
under Colonel Pritchard, who informed Colonel Harden that he was ordered to 
Abbeyville to watch for Davis and at the same time offered the First regunent 
some of his men, if needed. These Colonel Harden refused, and, with the 
understanding that the Michigan regiment was remaining at Abbeysville, set 
out in pursuit of the fleeing confederate president. Advancing rapidly forward 
the force encountered a detachment of the Michigan cavalry, and each sup- 
posing the other to be rebel cavalry, a short engagement at once ensued, which 
ceased only after a loss of several men in each regiment. The regiment cap- 
tured the ex-president of the confederacy and immediately returned to Macon, 
remaining there until the 24th, when they set out on the northward march, 
going into camp at Edgefield, Tennessee, where the First Wisconsin cavalry 
was mustered out on the 12th of July and shortly after paid and disbanded. 

The Second Wisconsin Cavalry Regiment. 

Musteredin, March 12, 1862. Mustered out, November 17, 1865. Cam- 
paigned in Missouri, Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas. 

Engagements : Vicksburg, Redbone, Yazoo, Egypt Station, Prairie 
Grove, Lane's Prairie. Original strength, 1,127. Total strength, 2,510. 
Death loss, 293. Killed and wounded in action, 116. 

The Second cavalry regiment left the state a week after the First, with 
orders to proceed to St. Louis, where it remained in camp at Benton Barracks 
until thoroughly mounted and equipped, marching then to Springfield. The 
regiment was here divided. The First battalion remaining in the vicinity of 
Springfield and Cassville, Missouri, during the summer months of 1862, march- 
ing in October to Osage Springs, Arkansas, leaving there the middle of De- 
cember for Forysth, then the latter part of March, 1864, to Lake Springs, Mis- 
souri, in June to RoUa and in September, 1864, moving to Vicksburg. 

The Second and TJiird battalions leaving Springfield on the 14th of June, 
1862, and, joining General Curtis' forces, marched with them to Helena, where 
they remained until the latter part of January, 1863, when they moved to Mem- 
phis. In the middle of June, 1863, they left Memphis and moved down the 



WISCONSIN IN THE CIVIL WAR. 387 

ri\er to take part in the operations against Vicksburg, occupying the position 
at Snyder's Bkifif. On the 4th of July they left Vicksburg to take part in 
the expedition under Sherman to Jackson, returning and encamping on the 
2gth at Big Black River, removing shortly afterward to Redbone Church and 
remained until April, 1864. From Redbone they moved to Vicksburg, doing 
picket duty until the 6th of November, when they joined the expedition to 
Gaines Landing, Arkansas, returning on the 12th. 

As a part of the cavalry expedition under Colonel Osland, they left Vicks- 
burg, November 23d, and on their way burnt a large bridge across the Big 131ack 
river, destroying thirty miles of railroad track and many railroad buildings, 
with large accumulations of cotton and military stores. Near Yazoo City the 
I St of December they met rebel forces, and in the engagement which followed 
sustained a loss of forty killed, wounded and missing. They re-entered Vicks- 
burg December 5th, having marched during the expedition about three hun- 
dred miles. The early part of December, the regiment moved to Memphis, 
leaving there the 21st, on a southward expedition. As they advanced, the 
brigade destroyed railroad bridges, cars and quantities of stores, and on the 28th 
took part in a skirmish at Egypt Station, which resulted in the capture of five 
hundred prisoners. Returning in charge of its captives it passed through Lex- 
ington and Benton, destroying all rebel railroad property on the line of march, 
entering Vicksburg January 5, 1865. 

March 3d the command again set out for Memphis on an expedition into 
Northern Mississippi, returning a week later, when it was employed in guard 
and picket duty until the 9th of May, when a battalion of the regiment (Major 
DeForest's squadron) left Cranada, and on the 24th of June joined the regi- 
ment at Alexandria. It remained here until early in August and then rode to 
Hempsted, Texas. The march was through a desolate country and all suffered 
from lack of food and water. Here, being on ordinary camp duty until Octo- 
ber 30th, when it again marched (as infantry) to Austin, Texas, and was mus- 
tered out on the 15th of November, 1865, having turned its horses over to other 
regiments. The first hundred miles of homeward path were accomplshed with 
much fatigue. At Brenham it moved by rail and steamer, arriving at Madison 
on the iith of Deceml)er, and disbanded. 

The Thirij Wisconsin Cavalry Regiment. 

Mustered in, January 21, 1862. Mustered out, September, 1865. Cam- 
paigned in Missouri, Kansas, Indian Territory and Arkansas. 

Engagements: Church in-the-Woods, Taberville, Coon Creek, Fort 
Blunt, Cabin Creek, Honey Springs, Perryville, Waldron, Clarksville, Baxter's 
Springs, Bull Creek. Original strength, 1,186. Total strength, 2,523. Death 
loss, 215. Killed and wounded, 213. 



388 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

The muster of this regiment was completed about the 21st of January, 
1862, and they left the state on the 26th of March for St. Louis. On the way 
twelve men were killed and twenty-eight injured in a railroad accident near 
Chicago. "From St. Louis the regiment moved to Fort Leavenwortli where 
Colonel Earstow was appointed provost marshal of Kansas, with his regiment. 
Four companies were sent to Fort Scott with orders to keep careful watch of 
the enemy, stamp out bushwhackers and keep the peace generally in the sur- 
rounding country. The rebels, two thousand strong, having been discovered at 
Church-in-the- Woods, Captain Conkey, in his effort to inform Colonel Bar- 
stow, charged through the rebel ranks and escaped without loss, and a short 
time afterwards was attacked by a superior force and lost all his transportation. 
The battalion took part in several engagements, receiving much praise for their 
gallantry. 

Four companies, I, M, C, and F, remained at Fort Scott until July, 1863. 
The 13th of September, 1862, six companies were ordered to the front, accom- 
panying the movement of the forces under General .Solomon, participating in 
the battles of Cane Hill and Prairie Grove and in skirmishes with the guerrillas, 
arriving at Fort Scott on the 5th of July, 1863. During May and June, 1863, 
Companies B, G, H, I and M were engaged in escorting supplies. They took 
part in the battles near Fort Blunt, at Cedar Creek and Honey Springs. On 
the 19th of August they returned to Fort Blunt and on the 2 2d again left the 
fort on a forward movement, capturing a large quantity of rebel stores, and 
also captured and burned Perryville. They were frequently dispatched on 
scouting expeditions, and had daily encounters with bands of guerrillas. From 
October i6th the detachment remained at Van Burne, until February, 1865, 
engaged in guard, escort and scouting duty. On the 6th of October, 1863, 
Company I was attacked at Baxter's Springs and after a gallant resistance was 
finally overpowered and compelled to retire with a loss of twenty-two killed 
and four wounded. Of the regimental band, which was with the company, 
not a man escaped, the rebels robbing and murdering them when prisoners 
and causing their bodies to be burnt. The confederate commander at this bat- 
tle was Quantrell, the famous guerrilla chief. 

Durmg the winter of 1864 about three-fourths of the regiment re-enlisted, 
arriving on the 13th of May at Madison on their thu-ty days' furlough. Leav- 
ing Wisconsin on June 16 they proceeded by way of St. Louis and Memphis 
to Duval's Bluff, Arkansas. During August and September the regiment was 
engaged in scouting and in expeditions in pursuit of Shelby's men. On Sep- 
tember 30th the various companies were detached and sent to points in Mi.s- 
souri and Kansas, engaged in guard, picket and scouting duty. At the expira- 
tion of the term of service of the original organization, April 19, 1865, the 
regiment was reorganized. The portion of the regiment stationed at Little 



WISCONSIN IN THE CIVIL WAR. 389 

Rock set out on the 21st of April for Duval's Bluff, where it remained until the 
3d of June, and during the months of July and August was engaged in post 
duty at St. Louis, Springfield, and Fort Leavenworth. This battalion was 
mustered out at the latter place on the 8th of September. The other com- 
panies of the l)attalion were mustered out during Sej^tember and October. 

ForKTH Wisconsin Cavalry. 
(See Fourth Wisconsin Infantry. ) 

Milwaukee Cavalry. 

This company left the state, under command of Captain Gustav Van 
Deutsch, in Sei)tember, and was mustered into the United States service as an 
independent acceptance on the 23d of that month, at St. Louis. It served a 
short time as body guard to General Fremont and was afterwards incorporated 
as Company M with the Fourth Missouri cavalry and served with that regi- 
ment until mustered out. 

Its original strength was eighty-three. 

The First Heavy Artillery Regiment. 

Mustered in at various dates from the nth of June, 1861, to the 30th of 
September, 1864. Mustered out at dates from the middle of June until the 
last of September, 1865. Campaigned in Virginia, Tennessee, Louisiana, Ken- 
tucky. Total strength, 882. Death loss, 73. 

■ After the first battle of Bull Run, Company K, of the Second infantry, was 
ordered on duty at Fort Corcoran, near Washington. This was the nucleus 
of the First Wisconsin heavy artillery. On the 8th of December, 1861, it was 
permanently organized as an artillery company and so placed in garrison 
at Fort Cass. August 28th a detachment was sent to garrison Fort Buffalo, 
where it was attacked by the enemy, who, however, soon withdrew. The 
danger having passed, the detachment returned to Fort Cass ten days later. 
During the early winter the battery was transferred to P'ort Ellsworth and 
thence in the spring to Fort Worth. On the 8th of June, Captain Mersevey 
was authorized to recruit four batteries of heavy artillery, using the first battery 
as a basis for that purpose. September 9th, 1863, the regiment was fully or- 
ganized, being stationed by companies at the following points : 

Battery A moved in October, 1863, to Battery Rodgers, where it re- 
mained until May, 1864, aod then was transferred to Fort Willard, returning in 
August, 1864, to Battery Rodgers. Battery B was assigned to Fort Terrel, 
Kentucky, in October, 1863, and on. the 4th of January, 1864, to Lexington, 
Kentucky. Battery C was sent to Fort Wood, Chattanooga, and moved in 
January, 1864, to Fort Creighton and in May to Fort Sherman. Battery D 



390 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

was stationed at Fort Jackson on the 8th of January, and in February, 1864, 
moved to Berwick, near Brashier City, Louisiana. July 25th Batteries E, F, 
K, H and G occupied part of the defense at Washington. 

Battery B remained at Lexington until its discharge from the service on 
the 30th of August, 1865. Battery C remained at Fort Sherman until 
the 29th of March, 1865, when it successively occupied Athens, Mouse 
Creek, Strawberry Plains, and was mustered out on the 21st of September, 
1865. Battery D was occupied at Brashier City, Louisiana, until June, 1865, 
when it was ordered to Washington. The remaining nine companies of the 
regiment were engaged at Washington until the companies from E to M in- 
clusive were mustered out on the 26th of June. Companies A and D were 
mustered out on the i8th of August, 1865. 



Chapter LI. 

Startling Historical Account of the Movements and Engagements of the First, Second 
'I'liird, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Wisconsin Batteries. 

Thk First Wisconsin Battery. 

Mustered in, October lo, 1861. Mustered out, July, 1864. Engage- 
ments: Tazewell, Vicksburg, Arkansas Post, Anderson's Hill, Black River 
Bridge, Jackson, Liberty. Original strength, 155. Total strength, 203. Death 
loss, 25. Killed and wounded in action, 4. 

This battery left Wisconsni on the 27th of January, 1862, and remained 
at Louisville until April 3d on drill duty, then joined the expedition towards 
Cumberland Gap, the men hauling their guns over the mountain passes with 
long ropes. August 6th it took part in the battle of Tazewell, and on the i6th 
of August four thousand rebels invested Cumberland Gap, when the federals 
were obliged to retreat. Having marched over two hundred miles, during 
Avhich the battery suffered severely, it arrived at Greensborough October 31st, and 
then proceeded to Portland, Avhere the Badger boys were refitted, and on the 
25th of the month joined the forces of General Cox, proceeding so far east as 
Red House Landing, when they were ordered back. From Cincinnati they 
joined General Sherman's forces at Memphis and then moved to Vicksburg 
and remained until 1863, when Sherman withdrew the army and moved to 
Arkansas Post, there doing their full duty and returning to the mouth of the 
Yazoo on the 14th of January. During the winter, spring and summer of 
1863 they took part in the battles of Champion Hills, in which they were held 
as a reserve, Black River Bridge, Vicksburg and Jackson, acquitting themselves 
in the praiseworthy manner in which all their work was done, whether in battle 
or fatigue duty. During Grant's campaign in the Mississippi valley the bat- 
tery fired more than twelve thousand rounds of ammunition. 

July 24th it returned to Vicksburg and went into camp near that place. 
Its guns were found unserviceable and it was furnished with new thirty j^ound- 
ers and ordered to the Gulf. The battery was then sent to the defense of New 
Orleans, where it remained and was equipped, as horse artillery, with three-inch 
guns. April 22, 1864, it was ordered to assist in the ill-fated Red river expedi- 
tion and jjarticipated in the engagements near Alexandria, returning with the 
expedition and encamjied near Morganzia until June 23d, when it returned to 
New Orleans. In August the ^Visconsin boys moved to Baton Rouge. In 
October eight men of the battery, whose time had expired, returned home by 

391 



392 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

way of the ocean, escorting two hundred and eighteen rebel prisoners. The 
remainder of the battery remained at Baton Rouge until it was ordered home 
on the 7th of July, and was discharged at Milwaukee on the i8th. 



The Second Wisconsin Battery. 

Mustered in, October loth, 1861. Mustered out, July loth, 1864. Cam- 
paigned in Virginia. Engagements: South Mary Bridge. Original strength, 
153. Total strength, 243. Death loss, 12. 

This battery was mustered into the United States service the loth of 
October, leaving the state on the 21st of January and moving by way of Balti- 
more to Fortress Monroe, where they remained until September, when ordered 
to Camp Hamilton on garrison duty. The loth of January, 1863, the battery 
left this station and moved to Sufitblk, Virginia, and were engaged in the battle 
near South Mary Bridge. During March and April it was divided, part being 
stationed at Fort Dix and Union and the remainder at Nausemond river. May 
6th, the men marched by way of Williamsburgh to Yorktown, remaining there 
until the 20th of January, 1864, when they embarked and proceeded by 
steamer to point Lookout, Maryland, and were mustered out, July 10, 1864. 



The Third Wisconsin Battery. 

Mustered in, October loth, i86i. Mustered out, July 20th, 1865. Cam- 
paigned in Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama. 

Engagements : Chaplin Hills, Stone River, Crab Orchard, Chickamauga. 

Original strength, 170. Total strength, 270. Death loss, 26. Killed 
and wounded in action, 9. 

This Badger battery left the state on th^ 23d of January, 1862, under 
orders for Louisville, Kentucky, where they were placed in camp of instruction 
until the loth of March, when it proceeded to reinforce Grant on the Tennessee 
river. During the summer it moved from place to place in Mississippi, Ala- 
bama, Tennessee and Kentucky, and on the 8th of October, took part in the 
battle of Chaplin Hills, and then accompanied the army in its southward 
march. During December they remained stationed at Nashville, going into 
camp after the batde of Stone River, early in January, 1865, leaving this place 
July 5th, and accompanying the general movement of the union army. The 
battery remained at Chattanooga until the spring of 1865, when they moved to 
Murfreesboro and there remained until ordered to Wisconsin to be discharged, 
being mustered out, July 20th, 1865. 



WISCONSIN IN THE CIVIL WAR. 393 

TiiK FoiRiH Wisconsin Battkry. 

Mustered in. October ist, 1861. Mustered out, July 3d, 1865. Cam- 
paigned in Virginia and Maryland. 

Kngagements : Fort Monroe, Suffolk, Bermuda Hundreds, Petersburg. 
Original strength, 151. Total strength, 2,947. Death loss, 24. Killed 
and wounded in battle, 8. 

This battery was mustered in on the first of October, 1861, leavmg the 
state January 21st, 1862, and arriving on the 28th, at Fortress Monroe, where 
they remained as part of the garrison until the 13th of September. The bat- 
tery had charge of the barbette guns, handling them during the engagements 
between the Monitor and the Merrimac. Moving to Camp Hamilton, it did 
garrison and guard duty until ordered to Suffolk. While here they were con- 
stantly on duty during the month of A])ril, the rebels under Longstreet having 
besieged the city. On the 29th of June, it moved with the advance column on 
an expedition up the Peninsula. They went into camp at Yorktown, July loth, 
remaining about two months, when ordered to Gloucester Point. The ser- 
vice had been so severe that early in October, out of one hundred and twenty- 
four in the battery, only four enlisted men were able to do duty. Ten days 
later it was ordered to Portsmouth, and there remained until the 4th of [ulv, 
1864. On the 22d, the battery mo\'ed to Bermuda Hundreds, where on May 
9th, It took position before Fort Clifton. Although under fire nearly all day 
on the 14th, the command maintained its position. The battery remained at 
Bermuda until the i6th of June, and then participated in the assault on 
Peterslnirg. They took part in the engagements before this city until its cap- 
ture, all of their work being done with the bravery that characterized Wiscon- 
.sin's previous service. The battery was mustered out, on the 3d of [uly, 1865. 

Thk Fifih Wisconsin Battkry. 

Mustered in, October I, 1861. Mustered out, June 14, 1861:;. Campaigned 
in Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, Tennessee, (Georgia, South Carolina, North 
Carolina. 

Engagements: New Madrid, Corinth, Chaj^lin Hills, Nashville, Stone 
River, Chickamauga, Rocky Face Ridge, Resaca, Dallas, Kenesaw Moun- 
tain, Peach Tree Creek, Atlanta, Jonesboro, Bentonville. Original strength, 
155. Total strength, 304. Death loss, 24. Killed and wounded in battle, 13. 

After its organization, this battery rei)orted at St. Louis on the 16th of 
March, 1862, and jjroceedmg to New Madrid was employed in building and 
guarding forts until the surrender of Island No. 10, and then moved to Pitts- 
burg Landing, remaining there until the evacuation of Corinth. It moved on 
the 23d of June to Rijjley, Mississippi, and then August 14th to luka, where 



394 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

the l)attery was transferred to the Army of the Tennessee, participating in the 
various conflicts, and at the battle of Chaplin HiHs (hsplayed such gaHantry as 
to be highly complimented by the commanding general. In pursuit of the 
enemy, it reached Crab Orchard, and then countermarched to Nashville, ar- 
riving December 7th, after an absence of nearly two months, during which it 
traversed five hundred miles of roadways. After taking part in the battle of 
Stone River, the battery went into camp at Murfreesboro, and afterwards at 
Manchester, leaving that i:)Iace for Chattanooga. 

Having re-enlisted, the men left the camp for Madison on their thirty 
days' furlough, returning on the 23d of February. 

At the battle of Resaca the battery was actively engaged, resuming their 
advance May i6th. During the camjjaign following, this battery took part in 
the battles at Kenesaw Mountain, Peach Tree Creek, Atlanta, Jonesboro' and 
a few minor engagements, returning in the early part of Octol)er to its old 
camp near Rome, (Georgia, and refitted preparatory to Sherman's northward 
march through the Carolinas. Its record in this never-to-l)e-forgotten march 
is not unlike that of the others, and it is sufficient to say that it was always on 
hand when there was work to do or battles to be won. 

Arriving at Washington, it took part in the Grand Review on the 24th of 
May, and remained in camp near the city until orders were received to pro- 
ceed home for discharge. It was mustered out at Madison. 

Six'i'H Wisconsin Fjattkrv. 

Mustered in, October 2, 1861. Mustered out, July 3d, 1865. Cam- 
paigned in Mississij^pi, Arkansas, Alabama, Ceorgia, Tennessee. 

This battery, known as the Buena ^'ista artillery, left the state on the 15th 
day of March, 1862, proceeding to New Madrid, where it w'as first placed in 
charge of its guns. After the surrender of Island No. 10, and about the mid- 
dle of May, the command took position before Corinth. During this battle, 
the loss was twenty-five in killed and wounded. Participating in the general 
southward movement of our forces, it moved to the Yacona river, returning to 
Lumpkin Mills, whence the battery was sent by way of Holly Springs to 
Buntyn Station. March 3d it proceeded to Helena, and took part in the 
Yazoo Pass expedition. Early in Ai)ril the battery marched as a part of the 
forces for the reduction ofVicksburg. On the way, and while at Cross Roads 
it engaged and drove the enemy. It participated in the battle at Jackson, 
and later at Champion Hills and Mission Ridge. 

Owing to the lack of horses it turned its guns over to the ordinance de- 
partment at Chattanooga, and on the 2d day of December, 1863, went into 
camp at Larkinsville, Alabama, and there remained until January, 1864, 
when, at Huntsville, it was equipped with horses and new twelve i)ounder 



WISCONSIN IN THE CI\IL WAR. 395 

guns. During the spring of 1864 the battery was often engaged with the 
enemy, canii)aigning at Kingston. Cartersville and Fort Etowah, (Georgia, 
and was assigned to the reserve corps early in December, 1864, at Fort Gilhan. 
On the 12th of January the horses were again turned over to the (juarter- 
master's department and the men with muskets detailed on i)rovost duty in 
Nashville. The battery left the city on the 17th of Februar\-, arriving at Chat- 
tanooga where it was i)laced in jiermanent cam]). It remained here until 
ordered to Wisconsin to be discharged from the service, arriving at Madison 
on the 3d of fuly, 1865. 

Tf^k Skvknth \\iscoxsi\ Hattkrv. 

Mustered m, ( )ctober 4, 1861. Musteretl out, Julv, 1865. Campaigned 
in Tennessee, Mississippi, Missouri. 

F^ngagements : New Madrid, Lsland No. 10, Parker's Cross Roads, (iun 
Town. C)riginal strength, 158. Total strength, 314. Death loss, 30. Killed 
and wounded in battle, 32. 

This battery, known as the Badger State Flying artillery, left the camp at 
Racine on the 15th of March, 1862, and by way of St. Louis, where it received 
its orders, and proceeded to Madrid to take i)art in the siege of Island No. 10 
and was constantly employed until the surrender on the 8th of April, when 
fully e(]ui])ped, it engaged in garrison duty until the nth of June, and then 
moved to Union City, Tennessee, thence marching to Humbolt and was en- 
gaged in guarding an important point at the junction of the Mobile and Ohio 
railroatls. The confederates havmg made a feint of attacking Jackson, the 
greater part of the garrison hurried to its defense. Two dSys later, the enemy 
ha\ing accom])lished its object, by drawing the trooj)s away, entered Humbolt 
and captured thirty-nine men and all the garrison and camp equipage, the 
( omjjany books and records. They also entered Trenton, capturing and de- 
stroying garrison equipage. On the 24th of December the battery moved to 
Trenton, whence the pursuit of Forest was commenced, coming up with the 
enemy at Parker's Cro.ss Roads, and during the affair there one-half of the bat- 
tery lost thirty-one men in killed, wounded and prisoners and all but one horse. 
Pursuit was ke]>t u[) until the foe crossed the Tennessee, the battery returning 
to Jackson. June i, 1863, it was assigned to garrison duty at Corinth, moving 
thence on the 31st to Memphis, where it was placed on permanent gar- 
rison duty. February 25th, 1864, the re-enlisted men of the Badger State battery 
])roceeded to Wisconsin to enjoy their brief thirty days' furlough, reporting for duty 
at Memphis on the 9th of April. They remained here until their term of ser- 
vice ended, with the excejjtion of a few e.xjjeditions against the enemy. On 
the 2ist of August, 1864, the battery lost fifteen men in the rebel raid on 
Memphis. In July the command was ordered to Wisconsin to be discharged. 




C9L. PRANK A.HA5KtLL> 




A. A. >:>,:, 



:D. 




Le016 MANDfcR6CHEID. 
Co. G. i6 Wi&.Vollnft'y. 



Simvcn i:rr(i. &o. HiL. 



SOMK \VlSCONSIN BOVS. 



Chapter LII. 

Startling Historical Kxploits of tlic Kiglilli, Ninth, Tenth, Eleventh, Twelfth and 
Tliiiteenlh \\'i>eon>in liatteries. 

Thk Eic.HiH Wisconsin Battery. 

Mustered in, January 8, 1862. Mustered out, August loth, 1865. Cam- 
paigned in Kansas, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi. 

Engagements: Chaplin Hills, Chickamauga, Chattanooga, Mission 
Ridge, T>ook()ut Mountain. C)riginal strength, 161. Total strength, 329. 
Death loss, 25. 

Lyon's Pinery battery left the state on the i8th of March, 1862, and pro- 
ceeded by way of St. Louis to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, with orders to take 
part in the great Southwestern expedition. This having been abandoned, they 
left for Columbus, Kentucky, marching thence to Humbolt,and there remained 
doing guard duty until the first of July, moving again southward, arriving on 
the 9th at Corinth, Mississippi. In the beginning of August, they took part 
in the movement on Bay Springs, takmg part in the skirmish thereon the 12th. 
Reporting at Nashville, Tennessee, they participated in the battle of Chaplin Hills 
on the 8th of October, and, gomgin pursuit, engaging the enemy at Lancaster, 
when they returned to Nashville. Leaving this place on the 26th of Decem- 
ber, the battery was engaged in the battle of Stone River, going into camp 
early in January. 1863, at Murfreesboro. They also took part in the battle of 
Chickamauga on the 19th of September, and at Mi.ssion Ridge and Lookout 
Mountain on the 24th and 25th, reaching Nashville on their return on the 8th 
of December. 

The battery was here supplied w-ith new guns and equipments and on the 
26th of January eighty-two members re-enlisted. Returning from their brief 
thirty days' furlough the men arrived at Murfreesboro on the 25th, where they 
remained as j)ermanent garrison until the close of the war, and were mustered 
out at Milwaukee on the loth of August, 1865. 

Thk NiNrH Wisconsin B.A.irKKV. 

The Kandail battery was organized in Racine county, and pursuant to 
orders reached St. Louis, January 20, 1862. 

Captured guns from Fort Donelsqn constituted its eipiipment, with three 
full sections. At Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, it was furnished with horses and 
otherwise etpiipped for its long journey to Fort Kearney, and thence to Den- 



398 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

ver, a march of over five hundred miles, w hich was accomjjlished in thirty- 
eight days. Early in June, the right section left for Fort Union, New Mexico, 
a distance of over two hundred and ninety miles, arriving on the 24th of that 
month, from which place, a few days later, it marched two hundred and sixty 
miles to P'ort Lyon, Colorado. 

The left section had almost a similar experience, leaving Denver on th^ 
14th of June, and after a short stoj) at Fort Lyon, reached Fort Larned, 
nearly five hundred miles from its starting point. 

The center section of the battery, after a midsummer march to Fort Lyon 
was ordered back to Denver, leaving there on the nth, but later on in the 
season, in December, again marched to Fort Lyon, joining the right section- 

This battery was engaged in various expeditions, particularly against the 
Indians, during the long marches and great exposure, repeatedly testing 
the endurance and discipline of the men. 

For a time the right section ser\ed with deneral Curtis in his well-known 
expedition. While the right section went into camp at Council Cirove, the 
center section, after dispersing a body of Indians, rested at F'ort Riley, Kansas. 

In October, 1864, all divisions of this battery proceeded on a forced 
march to Shavvneetown, in pursuit of General Price's retreating army. 

Various engagements occurred, but no rest was allowed to the fatigued 
men until over one hundred and fifty miles had been consumed in stern chase 
and the enemy l)een driven across the Arkansas river. In January, 1865, two 
sections, whose terms of enlistment had expired, were mustered out, and the 
battery made heathiuarters at Fort Riley. 

On the last day of September following, the balance of the l)attery was 
mustered out, and ))roceeded to Madison, ^Visconsin, arriving there four days 
later, and there received its discharge. 

The total loss of this battery was six men, of whom five died of disease 
and the other by drowning. 

Thk Tenth Wisconsin Baitkry. 

Mustered in, f\'bruary 10, 1862. Mustered out, April 26, 1865. Cam- 
paigned in Missouri, Tennessee, Alabama, deorgia, North Carolina, South 
Carolina. 

Engagements: Corinth, Resaca, Calhoun Ferry, Red Oak, Lovejoy 
Station, Jonesboro, IJurnt l'>ridge, Moses Creek, AVaynesboro, liuckhead 
Church. Jones Plantation, Salkahatchie, Cunter's Bridge, Hornsboro, Monroe 
Cross Roads, Averysboro. Original strength. 47. Total strength, 179. Death 
loss, 27. Killed and wounded in battle. 10. 



WISCONSIN IN THE CIVIL WAR. 399 

Ihc Tenth battery left the state on the 18th of iMarch, going into camp 
at Henton llarracks. Here sixty-fi\e men were transferred to other l)atteries, 
leaving but forty-seven men in the Tenth. They were joined on the i8th and 24th 
of April with recruits, and on the 30th proceeded by the Tennessee river to 
Pittsburg Laniling, and in tiie action before Corinth lost two men. .\fter the 
exacuation they marched in pursuit of the enemy as far as Hoonsville. July 
10th they were assigned to the First brigade. Army of the Mississij)pi, and on the 
2ist marched to luka, remaining there until the 12th of August, when they 
joined the .\rmy of the Tennessee. Proceeding northward, by forced marches, 
they met and routed a body of Van Dorn's cavalry, reaching Nashville Sep-. 
tem!)er 14th. I )uring the fall the battery was almost entirely engaged by sec- 
tions in guard duty. Early in |anuary, 1863, they were ordered to escort a 
train to Murfreesboro, participating on the way in the battle of Stone River. 
The l)attery remained at Nashville and in the vicinity employed in garrison 
tlutv until the i6th of Julv, when it moved to Murfreesboro, remaining there 
until the 19th of August, and then proceeded by way of C(^lumbia, Athens, 
Hunlsville, Stevenson to Bridgeport, where it engaged in guarding bridges 
imtil the loth of October, at which date they were sent to Anderson's Cross 
Roads, and on the i8th to Dallas Landing, remaining guarding the river until 
the i>t of lanuary, 1864, when one section crossed the river and marched to 
Calhoun, where it wasjoinedby the remainder on thebegmningof February, and 
the entire Tenth battery was engaged in guard duty until the 27th of April. 

Having been assigned to the Third cavalry corps of the Army of the 
Cumberland, the liattery with our forces engaged the enemy at Resaca and 
Calhoun's F'erry, and was highly ])raised by the division commander. On 
the 22(1, the Tentli posted at Adairs\il]e, remaining in the vicinity engaged in 
guard duty until the 3d of .August, 1864, when it marched to Sandstovvn, 
setting out from here on the 14th, as a part of the raid on Atlanta. It 
partici])ated in the actions of our army at Red Oak, jonesboro, Lovejoy 
Station, returning to Sandstovvn on the 23d. On the ist of October, 1864, 
the command broke camp at Sandstown and marched with Sherman's army, 
taking jKirt in the batdes during that general's celebrated campaign, earning 
their full share of the glory that surrounds all who marched with Sherman 
through the Carolinas. On its arrival at (roldsboro, North Carolina, the non- 
veterans of the battery were sent to Wisconsin for muster out, arriving there 
on the 20th of .\pril. The remainder of the 'Tenth joined the 'Twelfth battery 
and continued the march, taking part in the Crand Review at Washington, and 
was sent home on the 7th of June, 1865. 

Thk Ei.KVKNiii Wisconsin P.AirKKV. 

Mustered in, June, 1862. Mustered out, July 10, 1865. Campaigned in 
Virginia, Marylantl, West \'irginia. 



400 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

Engagements : Greenland Gap, Mosstield, Fairmount, Bloomington, 
Flock's Mills, New Creek. Original strength, 87. Total strength, 134. Death 
loss, 3. Killed and wounded in action, 12. 

The Oconto Irish guards was originally intended to serve as a company 
of the Seventeenth infantry regiment, but on arriving at Camp Randall that 
organization was complete and permission was secured to organize as an 
artillery company. 

On the 6th of Aj^ril the battery was sent to Camp Douglas. It remained 
there until the 14th of June, when it moved to New Creek, West Virginia. 
During the summer, fall and winter the battery made its headquarters at this 
place, going out on a few expeditions to capture a few thousand pounds of 
tobacco. The forces stationed in this part of Virginia being ordered to co-op- 
erate with the Army of the Potomac, the battery left New Creek July 6, 1863, 
and proceeded to Hodgeville, remaining until the first of August, going into 
camp at Burlington. The battery was employed during the months of Sep- 
tember and October in scouting, being mounted as cavalry for that purpose. 
During November and December the different sections were sent on expedi- 
tions against the enemy. The 3ot]i of January, 1864, at the advance of the 
rebels under Early, our troops retreated to New Creek, their old camjjing 
place. April 3d, a section was ordered to Greenland (iap, and on the 30th of 
May marched to intercept a rebel force who were engaged on a raid on the 
Baltimore and Ohio railroad, overtaking and routing them at Burlington. 

One section of the battery attacked the enemy at Flock's Mills on the 
31st of July, driving them oi^" with severe loss ; another section being attacked 
by the same rebel force at New Creek and again defeated him. October ist, 
the Eleventh battery was stationed as follows: One section at Grafton, 
another at Clarksburg and the left at New Creek. 

November 26th, one section, in connection with the Sixth West Virginia 
cavalry, encountered a superior force of the confederates and lost six men, 
eleven horses and one gun. On the 28th the enemy attacked New Creek and 
captured forty-nine men and sixty-eight horses. January 21st, 1865, the bat- 
tery was ordered to Harper's Ferry, remaining there until discharged from 
service. 

The Twelfth Wisconsin Baitery. 

Mustered in, March, 1862. Mustered out, June 7th, 1865. Campaigned 
in Missouri, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, (ieorgia. South Caro- 
lina and North Carolina. 

Engagements : Corinth, luka, Jackson, Champion Hills, Vicksburg, 
Altoona, Savannah. Original strength, 99. Total strength, 342. Deathless, 
30. Killed and wounded in battle, 22. 



WISCONSIN IN THK C'lVII. WAR. 401 

This battery was recruited during the early spring of 1862, and mustered 
into service in squads, being hurried forward to Jefferson Barracks, Missouri, 
with the understanding that they were to become a part of the First Missouri 
artillery. This led to a misunderstanding between Captain Pile, of Missouri, 
who refused to follow certain instructions given by the governor of Wisconsin, 
resulting in a joint order made by the state and general government relieving 
him from duty. Early in May two sections of the battery ])roceeded by steamer 
u\) the Tennessee river, joining (ieneral Pope's command in the siege of 
Corinth. During the siege the other section of the command arrived and 
entered the hot engagement, driving the foe and destroying the fort built to 
command the Memphis and Charleston railroad. With such determination 
did the young ot^cer in command (who was a theological student of the (Ger- 
man Methodist church) advance his battery from position to position during 
the engagement and subseciuently following the retreating enemy with speed of 
•cavalry mo\ement, that he was jjromoted to be cajjtain and his command sui)- 
plied with a full set of Parrott guns, which they first took into action at luka, 
and again following the enemy on its retreat from that place, halting in camp 
near Corinth. Thereat"ter the battery was almost continually in movement 
from point to point in Missouri and Tennessee until the 14th of January, 1863, 
Avhen, after a short rest, they proceeded to Memphis, Yazoo Pass, Miliken's 
Bend, Grand (iulf and Big Black River, but were brought to a halt near Ray- 
mond, where an engagement ensued, the enemy retreating towards Jack.son, 
followed, of course, by the enthusiastic battery boys. Then commenced the 
well-known advance towards Vicksburg, resulting in the severe contest of 
•Champion Hills, where the enemy was again driven, and the road to Vicksburg 
closed forever against them. After the siege of that place, the command was 
sent to Helena, .Arkansas, advancing by boat to Memphis and later by rail to 
Corinth and then by marching to Glendale, Missouri, guarding the railroad, so 
important for tiie supplies of our army. After a few weeks of such duty this 
Wisconsin battery moved by a circuitous route to Chattanooga, taking a posi- 
tion to cover the ])as.sage of our troops in a movement for the capture of Mis- 
sion Ridge and Lookout .Mountain. With a view to the health of the men, 
various camjjs were established, tloing usual duty at Bridgeport, Larkinsville 
and Hunts\ille ; winter ipiarters were established at the latter place. Here, by 
reason of their efficiency and merit, they were furnished with a complete set of 
Rodman guns, and early in the summer proceeded to Bellefonte and from that 
])lace b\ way of Chattanooga and Kingston to Altoona, where, October 5th, 
1864, the battery won great honors in the celebrated defense of the place 
against the attack of the confederate forces. Taking his battery outside of the 
fortifications, the intrepid Captain Zickerick Ijoldly and successfully assailed an 
-eciual number of guns which had been established under cover of darkness 



402 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

in a manner calculated to rake the lines of the federal fortification. In 
less than seventy minutes the enemy sent up its Hag of truce, the com- 
manding general, in special orders commending the service of the ^N'iscon- 
sin battery as unsurpassed in any modern warfare in Europe or else- 
where. This disaster only redoubled the efforts of the increasing foe, and 
to save his men and guns the gallant captain unlimbered and withdrew, 
pouring heavy volleys on the enemy as they steadily advanced until within the 
earthworks, outside of which they had been fighting. Having placed his men 
in advantageous positions, he waited until the assailing column "could almost 
touch the men through the embrasures" when terrible volleys of grape and 
cannister at short range drove back the confederates, leaving many dead and 
wounded to attest the heroism of both the assault and defense. Said (General 
Corse, in reporting this battle : '-No one is entided to more credit for the salva- 
tion of this post than the Twelfth Wisconsin battery, commanded l)y Captain 
Zickerick, whose name is recommended for any promotion that the govern- 
ment feels at liberty to grant." From Altoona they took up the March to 
Savannah, accomi)anying Sherman's army in that historic march. Having 
reached the sea-coast the battery advanced under the heavy fire from the con- 
federate works and established themselves within easy range of the opposing 
fortifications, on the 2jst of December, 1864. About the middle of January 
the battery was embarked and arrived at Beaufort, South Carolina, three days 
later, marching thence and l)y rail to McPhersonville. After a brief rest they 
arrived near Columbia and the next day occupied that city. Crossing the 
Wateree river, they passed through Success and reached Coldsborough, North 
Carolina, on the 24th of March. Two weeks after, having met with some op- 
position, the battery entered Raleigh and went into camp at Beaver Dam 
Creek, where the news of Lee's surrender was received and the march for 
Washington commenced. Participating in the Crand Review, this famous 
battery left for home, and upon arriving at Madison were mustered out on the 
26th. 

The Thirieenth VV'isconsin Batiekv. 

Mustered in, December 24th, 1863. Mustered out, July 20th, 1865. Cam- 
I)aigned in Louisiana. Original strength, 156. Total strength, 188. Death 
loss, J 4. 

On the 28th of January. 1864, this battery left the state under orders to 
proceed to New Orleans, and thence to Baton Rouge. Here it was assigned 
to duty at Fort Williams, and on March 20th, fully ecpiipped as light artillery, 
and soon after placed in charge of some ten guns. On the 17th it was ordered 
to i^rovost duty at Baton Rouge, returning on the 8th of July, when they took 
charge of the guns of the Third Vermont battery, remaining here until the 4tl\ 
of August, moving thence to Highland Stockade and then back to Baton 
Rouge, remaining until discliarged from service on the 20th of July, 1865. 



ClIAl'TER LIII, 



WISCONSIN'S STATE GOVERNORS. 

AHMINISIKA riON OF GOVKKN'OR EoUlS PoWKI.I. HAkVK\-. 

January 6, 1862 — Ai)ril 19, 1862. 

Kaily History of Louis Powell Harvey. — The Drowning of (lovernor Harvey in the 
lennessee. — His Wife Enters the Army as a Nurse. 

LoiMS P(^WELi, Harnkv, OUT seventh governor, was born fiilv 22, 1820, 
at East Haddon, Connecticut. His family l)eing poor, they moved, m Louis' 
eighth year, to Strongsville, Ohio. Here he did rude work. His ambition, 
Iiowever. l)eing to gain a good e(hication, he studied while he worked, and, at the 

age ot nineteen, was prepared to enter 
the Western Reserve college, at Hudson, 
( )hio, where his board was paid by do- 
ing odd jobs. For a while he worked in 
a book binderv, and so worked and 
studied until his failing health compelled 
him to leave college before he was grad- 
uated. 

After he had recovered sufficiently, 
he taught school at Nicholsonville, Ken- 
tucky, which position he tilled until the 
Ijctter one of tutor in the Woodward col- 
lege was offered and accepted. In 1841, 
Mr. Harvey came still farther west, and 
settled at Kenosha, Wisconsin, where he 
established an academy. He also be- 
came editor of a Whig ne\vspai)er called 
the ".\.mencan." This pajter was well 
written, and the courteous, but spirited 
political items wielded much inHuence. President Tyler appointed hnn post- 
master (jf Kenosha, which capacity he filled in a very creditable manner. 

In 1847, Mr. Harvey again ga\e u\) his home and went to Clinton, where 
he started a general store. In the same year, 1847, he was elected to the 
second constitutional convention, and helped to frame the organic law of the 
new state. 

403 




404 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

He then bought the water-power at Shopiere, in Rock county, built a 
large flouring-mill, oi)ened a retail store, and to him in a great measure belongs 
the praise of building up this jjlace. The Congregational church edifice was 
built mainly by him, and the public schools always received much of his 
attention. 

In 1S53, he was elected to the state senate, and was re-elected in 1855. 
In 1859 he was made secretary of state, and served most efficiently. He was 
considered one of the rising men of the state, and, in consequence of his ability 
and energy, was nominated for governor by the Republicans in 1861. He was 
elected, and on the 20th of January, 1862, delivered his first message, m per- 
son, saying: " No previous legislature has convened under ecjual incentives to a 
disinterested zeal in the public service. The occasion pleads with you in re- 
buke of all the meaner passions, admonishing to the exercise of a conscientious 
patriotism becoming the representatives of a Christian people, called in (iod's 
providence to pass through the furnace of a great trial of their virtue, and of 
the strength of the government." 

Shortly after the battle of Pittsburg Landing, which occurred on the 7th 
of April, 1862, Governor Harvey organized an expedition for the relief of the 
wounded and suffering soldiers. In a few hours a large amount of supjilies was 
gathered, and on the loth day of April this benevolent expedition started 
southward. On their arrival at Chicago, they found nearly eighty cases of 
supplies which had been forwarded to accompany the party. These supplies 
had been sent from Milwaukee, Madison, Fond du I>ac, Oshkosh, Kenosha 
and various other places in the state. After distributing their supplies, and 
administering to the wants of the soldiers at Mound City, at Paducah, and 
Savannah, their labors were nearly completed. 

On April 19th, Governor Harvey bade farewell to the soldiers at Pittsburg 
Landing, and after yisiting Savannah, which is a distance of ten miles down 
the river, he retired for the night on the steamer " Dunleith," with the expec- 
tation of taking the " Minnehaha" on the following morning. That night, at 
ten o'clock, the steamer " Minnehaha" came alongside the " Dunleith," and, 
in the darkness and the rain, while the governor was attempting to step from 
one boat to the other, or, as some authorities state, accidently stepped back- 
wards, missed his footing, and fell between the two steamers. Dr. Wil.son, of 
Sharon, Wisconsin, being present, immediately reached down his cane, which 
the governor grasped with such force as to instantly pull it from the doctor's 
hand. Dr. Clark, of Racine, after securing himself from drowning by a rope 
attached to the rigging about the wheel, jumped into the water and made 
every eftbrt to save the governor, but did not succeed in getting hold of him. 

The rapid current, it is thought, immediately swept him down and under 
a tlatboat, that lay just below, where he drowned. A few days later his body 



WISCONSIN'S STATK (lOVRRNORS. 405 

was discovered, sixty-five miles down the river, by children, and was buried by 
residents of the neighborhood. (ieneral Hrodhead offered a reward of $1,000 
for the recovery of the body. This offer was ratified by the state authorities. 
The governor's body was identified by his watch and other ])roi)erty found 
upon his person. The remains were sent to Chicago by express. From Chi- 
cago, a sjjecial train conveyed the body to the capital, arriving May 7th, where, 
after lying in state, they were buried with imposing ceremonies in Forest Hill 
cemetery. 

Shortly after the death of (lovernor Harvey, his estimable wife entered 
the army as a nurse, and there carried forward the noble work her husband had 
so well begun. The memory of Mrs. Harvey will ever be entwined with rec- 
ollections of sympathy, love and esteem by all who knew her. 





I owEK Canyon, Yellowstone. 



Chapter LIV. 

Ad.MIMS! KAIION OK (ioVKRNOK EdwaRP SaI.OMON. 
1862 1864. 

I.ieutenaiit-( lovernor Salomon Becomes Governor upon tlic Death of Governor Harvey. — 
I'lxigencies of War. — Messaijes. — Extra .Session of Legislature. — Elections. 

'I'lic gubernatorial chair lias nc\er been filled by but one Cierman — Edward 
Salomon — wlio was a c;redit both to the nation he represented, as well as the 
state he served. 

Edward Salomon was born in 1828, near the city of Halberstadt, in Prus- 
sia, where his father was a prominent civil and military official. In his native 
country he was educated in the Lutheran fixith, and afterwards attended the 
University of Uerlin. Heing of an enterprising and' ambitious turn of mind 

he emigrated to America in 1849, where 
he settled at Manitowoc, Wisconsin. 
Being a polished, handsome and courtly 
gentleman, he soon came into j)ublic 
favor. After serving as a school teacher, 
county surveyor and deputy clerk of 
the court, at Manitowoc,* he moved to 
Milwaukee, where he studied law. In 
1855 he was admitted to the bar after 
a thorough examination by the justices 
of the supreme court, and at once formed 
a partnership with that estimable lawyer, 
Winfield Smith, which continued until 
Mr. Salomon removed to New York 
in 1869. 

Mr. Salomon originally espoused the 
doctrines of the Democratic party, but, 
during Buchanan's time, became es- 
tranged from the cause on account of 
some of its leaders, who advocated slavery. In i860 he openly advocated 
the Republican principles. In 1861 hq was nominated and elected lieutenant- 
governor on tile ticket with Louis P. Harvey. On account of the death of 
Mr. Harvey, Mr. Salomon was called uijon to exercise the functions of chief 

407 




4o8 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

executive, which position he well filled until January, 1S64, at which time 
he was succeeded l)y Janise T. Lewis. Governor Salomon has been one of New 
York's most able lawyers since he adopted that state for his future home. 

KVKNI'S OK ICS63-63. 

On April 22, 1862, the Hon. P^dward Salomon, lieutenant-governor,, 
issued a proclamation announcing the death of Governor Harvey. He recom- 
mended that for a period of thirty days all ]niblic offices, court-houses and 
other public buildings be draped in mourning, and that during that time the 
people wear the usual badges of mourning. He appointed the ist day of May^ 
1862, as a day of public rest, and recommended to the i)eople that on that 
day, between the hours of ten and twelve in the morning, they assemble in 
their res])ective towns, cities and villages and commemorate the death of the 
late lamented governor by such public demonstrations as might be ap])ropriate 
to the occasion. 

Governor Salomon, on August 28th, issued a proclamation calling a 
special session of the legislature to meet on the loth day of September. On 
September loth, the legislature convened according to the proclamation, and 
was in session until September 26th. 

At the convening of the extra session on September 10, 1862, Governor 
Salomon in his message to the two houses referred to the fact that, since the 
previous adjournment, six hundred thousand men had l)een called for by the 
government for putting down the rebellion, and that it was necessary to rely 
upon a system of drafting to furnish the cjuota for this state. He recommended 
an effective organization of the state militia and a supply of arms and ammu- 
nition for emergencies. He also recommended the enactment of a law to give 
soldiers then in the army from this state the right to vote at the next general 
election. 

During the extra session, which lasted until Se|)tember 26th, seventeen 
laws were enacted, the most important of which was one for the levying and 
collecting a special tax of $275,000, to be applied for the aid of volunteers ; 
one to enable the militia and volunteers of this state, when in the military 
service of the United States or in this state, to exercise the right of suffrage; 
one to empower towns, cities and counties to raise money for the payment 
of bounties to volunteers. 

The legislature, in 1862, in conformity with that ])ortion of the governor's 
message relating to the extraordinary expenditures in the executive ilej)art- 
ment, during the administration of Governor Randall, appointed a joint select 
committee, who, after taking testimony, made and filed a majority and minor- 
ity report. According to the majority report, the negotiation of the war 
bonds of the state was not conducted according to law, but that the same were 



WISCONSIN'S STATE GOVERNORS. 409 

sold to Wisconsin bankers at a depreciated value, and without any effort to 
negotiate them in Eastern cities, in consequence of which the state was de- 
frauded out of a large amount of money. They further reported that the man- 
ner in which army supplies were procured was injudicious, to the extent that 
a large amount of money had l)een squandered. This majority report was 
signed by senators F. O. Thorp and T. R. Hudd, of the senatorial committee, 
and J. V. V. Platto, S. F. Ellis, H. T. Moore and W. C. Hamilton, on the 
part of the assembly committee. 

According to the minority report, the charges of waste and extravagances 
in the management and disbursement of funds in the offices of the quarter- 
master and commissary generals' department were greatly exaggerated. 
They concluded by saying that the majority of the committee, in their report, 
had discovered no facts reflecting in the slightest degree upon the integrity of 
the loan commissioners, but, on the contrary, the minority of the committee be- 
lieved that in the sale of such bonds, as large, if not a larger, sum was realized 
than could have been in an Eastern market. 

The sixteenth session of the legislature convened on January 4, 1863, 
and adjourned April 2, 1863, after holding a session of seventy-nine days. The 
senate was composed of seventeen Republicans and fifteen Democrats, while 
in the assembly there were fifty-three Republicans, forty-five Democrats and 
two Independents. On January 1 5th the two houses met in joint convention 
and listened to the reading of (iovernor Salomon's message. The message re- 
ferred principally to matters pertaining to the military affairs of the state. Dur- 
ing this session of the legislature the majority of the most important bills were of 
a military character. 

At the November election in 1862, James S. Brown, I. C. Sloan, Amasa 
Cobb, Charles A. Eldredge, P^zra Wheeler and W. D. Mclndoe were elected 
members of congress for two years from March 4, 1863. 

At this election James T. Lewis received 72,717 votes for governor, and 
Henry L. Palmer 49,053. The whole Rejjublican ticket was elected. 



Chapter LV. 



AdMINISI RA riON OF (ioVKRXOK LkavIS. 

1864—1866. 

I-i(e of (Jovernor I-e\vis. — Inauijural Address. — Legislature. — War Measures. — Drafts. 
— Political. 

James Taylor Lkwis, one of Wisconsin's able war governors, was born at 
Clarendon, New York, October 30, 18 19, his father being a New ELnglander 
and his mother of good old Scotch parentage. After receiving a common 
school education, he was sent to Clarkson academy, and then to the Clinton 

seminary, where he obtained a thorough 
English classical course. Being fond of 
military tactics, he, at an early age, 
joined the state militia, and became an 
active and enthusiastic soldier. In 1840, 
after first being sergeant, he was made 
lieutenant of the 25th regiment. In the 
early 40's he gained a deep knowledge of 
human nature by teaching school. By 
patience, economy and integrity he 
earned and sa^-ed enough money to pur- 
sue the study of law, which he began in 
the oftice of Governor Henry Selden, at 
Clarkson, in 1842. After his admission 
to the bar he started westward without 
money or books, and finally settled at 
Columbus, Wisconsin, where he has since 
continuously resided. From the time 
that he established his residence at Co- 
lumbus, in 1845, his law practice continued to increase, as well as his promo- 
tion in public favor. After holding the important positions of district attorney 
and county judge, he was chosen a member of the constitutional convention of 
1847. 

In the inter\ening years, between 1847 and 1863, he occupied the posi- 
tions of colonel of the Fourteenth regiment, brigadier-general of the Wisconsin 
state militia, member of assembly, state, senator, member of the court of im- 
peachment that tried Judge Levi Hubbell, lieutenant-governor, secretary of 
state, and regent of the state university. 




412 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

In 1863, Mr. Lewis was elected governor by 23,664 majority over Henry 
L. Palmer, his Democratic opponent. The administration of Governor Lewis 
was marked by extreme wisdom and judiciousness. In 1865, by his able ad- 
ministration, the state tax was reduced several hundred thousand dollars, while, 
during his incumbency, none of the military contingent fund was used. In order 
to further economize he requested the legislature not to vote the usual appropria- 
tion of $5,000. as a contingent fund for the use of the executive. 

In 1865 Mr. Lewis declined a renomination, whereupon the Republican 
Union convention passed appropriate resolutions, commending the able ad- 
ministration of Mr. Lewis. 

Mr. Lewis visited Europe during the Franco-Prussian war, and after- 
wards, in 1882-83, made a journey round the world. During Mr. Lewis' 
whole public career he has not changed his place of residence, his business, 
political principles, his friendships, nor has he lost the love and esteem of his 
neighbors. 

Important Events of 1864. 

The Seventeenth session of the state legislature convened January 13, 
1864, and was in session until April 4, 1864. 

Governor Lewis, in his inaugural address, pledged himself to use no 
patronage for a re-election, to administer the affairs of the state without preju- 
dice or partiality, to preserve economy, promote agriculture and the arts, to 
foster education, and to inculcate morality and l)enovolence, to employ his 
executive power to suppress the rebellion and to terminate the civil war. The 
records of Governor Lewis' administration show that he made no idle promises, 
but lived up to those sacred pledges he made to the people in his inaugural 
address. 

The governor, in his first annual me.ssage, gave a condensed statement of 
the different funds in the state, together with a report of the state officers and 
state institutions, and a synopsis of the statistical status of our financial affairs. 

The governor, in his able niessage, recommended the continuance of a 
generous policy by the state for her army citizens, and their families at home. 
He recommended the completion of the south wing of the capitol at a cost 
not exceeding $30,000, and the immediate selection of the agricultural col- 
lege lands donated to the state by the general government. 

One of our able writers, in speaking of the legislature of 1864, used the 
following language : 

" It was one of the most intelligent and harmonious public bodies that 
ever convened in the state. There was less political discussion and fewer exhi- 
bitions of party feeling than we have witnessed in any previous legislature. 
The measure which excited most i)ublic interest was the/rf rata bill. It failed 



WISCONSIN'S STATE GOVERNORS. 413 

to pass. Its death, h;>\vever, was not solely attributable to railroad opposition. 
As the subject was discussed, quite a powerful hostility was developed from 
sections of the state interested in unfinished or projected railroads, and from 
the districts of the state lying upon portions of completed railways distant from 
the markets. These found that, under a//v ra/a bill, their freights were likely 
to be increased : the others feared that the bill would retard and discourage the 
building of roads. The agitation of the subject, however, will not be 
without beneficial results. Its eftect will be to restrain the railroads from 
adopting exorbitant tariffs, and will e.xert a wholesome influence, and may ren- 
der legislation unnecessary." 

Among the numerous important acts passed by this legislature pertaining 
to military affairs were the acts authorizing towns, cities and villages to raise 
money by special tax for the payment of bounties to volunteers; an act revis- 
ing, amending and consolidating all laws relating to extra pay of Wisconsin 
soldiers in the service of the United States ; to authorize the governor to pur- 
chase flags for regiments ; providing for levying a state tax of $200,000 for 
the support of families of the volunteers ; authorizing the governor to care for 
the sick and wounded soldiers, and appropriating $100,000 for that pur- 
pose. 

Two important acts were also passed, authorizing the state to borrow 
money for repelling invasions, suppressing insurrections and ])rotecting the 
state in times of war. One of these acts authorized the state to borrow $350,- 
000, and the other for $300,000. 

Governor Lewis, on February 18, 1864, sent to the legislature a message, 
accompanied by a document from W. V. Selleck, the military agent for Wiscon- 
sin at Washington, D. C., in reference to the establishment of the Soldiers' Na- 
tional cemetery at Getty.sburg. The legislature, to aid the establishment of 
this cemetery, appropriated the sum of $3,523. 

On April 24, 1864, a proposition was made by the executives of the 
states of Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Iowa to President Lincoln, 
tendering for extra service 85,000 troops for the term of one hundred days; 
this organization to be governed l)y the ^Var department ; the proposition was 
gratefully accejjted, and ( Governor Lewis proceeded at once to carry out the 
arrangement. 

The Thirty-nintii, Fortieth and Forty-first regiments were soon organized, 
and left the state about the middle of June, for Memjihis, Tenne.ssee. On 
July i8th, President Lincoln called for 500,000 volunteers for one, two and 
and three years' services. The Wisconsin cjuota was given at 19,032. The state 
having already sent forward three regiments, in accordance with a proposition 
made to President Lincoln, Adjutant-General Gaylord proceed at once to 
Washington, and succeeded in reducing the state's quota 15,341. 



414 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

On September 14th, the governor was authorized to organize eight com- 
panies to complete the f^irst regiment of heavy artillery. The companies were 
soon organized, and before November 12th, were en route for the field. The 
state's quota not yet Ijeing filled, a draft took ]jlace on September 19, 1864. 
The following are the draft statistics : 

Total number subject to draft, 94,068 ; number drafted, 17,534 ; mustered 
in, 2,494; substitutes after draft, 945; discharged after draft, 6,724; failed to 
report, 7,367; paid commutation, 4; amount of commutation, $1,200. 

At the November election, in 1864, the Union Republican party elected 
W. W. Field, George C. Northrop, Henry Blood, Jonathan Bowman, Allen 
Warden, H. J. Turner, H. F. BeUtz and A. S. McDill, electors. At the 
electorial college these electors cast the vote of the state for Abraham Lincoln, 
president, and Andrew Johnson, vice-president. 

F.VENTS OF 1865. 

The eighteenth session of the state legislature convened at Madison on 
January 11, 1865, and adjourned after a session of ninety days. Governor 
Lewis, in his message to this legislature, in speaking of the financial condition 
of the state, said: "The financial condition of the state, considering the 
drafts that have necessarily been made upon the treasury, is very flattering . . . 
Great credit is due to the secretary of state and state treasurer for their man- 
agement in bringing about this result, and for the able and efficient manner 
in which they have discharged the duties of their respective departments." 

On February 17, 865, Governor Lewis submitted to the legislature the 
proposed constitutional amendment abolishing slavery in the llnited States. 
The governor, in his message, says: "Upon its adoption hangs the destiny 
of four millions of human beings, and, it may be, the destiny of the nation. 
I trust, and doubt not, the legislature of Wisconsin will record its decision 
firmly, and I hope unanimously, in favor of the amendment. Let us wipe 
from our escutcheon the foul blot of human slavery, and show by our action 
that we are worthy of the name of free men." 

This legislature passed a long list of important measures, both civil and 
military. On the loth day of April, the last day of the legislative session, Gov- 
ernor Lewis sent to the legislature the following message : 

" Four years ago, on the day fixed for adjournment, the sad news of the 
fall of Fort Sumter was transmitted to the legislature. To-day, thank (iod, 
and, next to Him, the l)rave officers and soldieis of our army and navy, I am 
permitted to transmit to you the official intelligence, just received, of the sur- 
render of General Lee and his army, the last prop of the rebellion. Let us 
rejoice, and thank the Ruler of the union for victory, and the prospects ot an 
honorable peace." 



WISCONSIN'S STATE GOVERNORS. 415 

The State Journal, in speaking of this legislature, says : 

" About all the important Republican measures brought before the legisla- 
ture were disy)osed of. The appropriation bills all passed, except that of 
$30,000 for the enlargement of the hospital for the insane, and also the bills for 
a temporary loan and special tax of $850,000 for war purposes and a general 
tax of $350,000 for general expenses. The bill increasing the rate of interest 
was defeatetl in the assembly ; also the bill allowing the Racine and Missis.sippi 
railroad to build branches to Milwaukee and Chicago." 

The Republican convention, held at Madison, September 6, 1865, placed 
the following ticket in nomination : Governor, Lucius Fairchild ; lieutenant- 
governor, Wyman Spoon er ; secretary of state, Thomas S. Allen ; state treas- 
urer, William E. Smith ; attorney-general, Charles R. Gill ; bank comptroller, 
J. M. Rusk; state prison commissioner, Henry Cordier ; superintendent of 
pul)lic instruction, J. L. Pickard. 

The Democratic convention, held at Madison, September 20th, nomi- 
nated the following ticket : Governor, Harrison C. Hobart : lieutenant-gover- 
nor, 1). W. Maxon ; secretary of state, L. B. Vilas; state treasurer; J. W. 
Davis; bank comptroller, Thomas McMahon ; state prison commissioner, C. 
Horneffer; superintendent of public instruction, J. B. Parkinson. The whole 
Republican ticket was elected by an average majority of 9,000. 




^^ .-<e 




p4 







Chapter LVI. 



Administration of Governor Fairchild. 



1866— 1872. 



Biographical Sketch of Governor FaircliihJ. — Legislation. — Mrs. Harvey Establishes a 
Home for Soldiers' Orphans. — Political. 



The ninth governor of Wisconsin was General Lucius Fairchild, who was 
born September 27, 1831, at Franklin Mills, Ohio. Colonel J. C. Fairchild, 
the father of Governor Fairchild, was of English descent, wliile his mother, 
Sallie Blair Fairchild, was of pure Scotch-Irish ancestry. In 1837, Colonel 
Fairchild, with the view to the better education of his children, removed with 

his family from Columbus, Ohio, to Madi- 
son, Wisconsin, then a thriving village. 
Lucius, being an energetic young man who 
preferred to glean knowledge by exper- 
ience, and not wholly from books, started, 
in 1849, with a horse and saddle and "prairie 
schooner" for California. Six years later, 
he was one of the few who returned with 
a " i)ile of gold." His mental and physi- 
cal powers had been greatly improved and 
strengthened by coming in contact with the 
vicissitudes of western life, which well fitted 
\, y him for his eventful future. 

~ - jifck_ The first shot fired at Fort Sumter found 

Mr. Fairchild occupied as clerk of the dis- 
trict court of Dane county. He responded to Lincoln's call for troops 
with the same zest that he had started for California in '49, by offering his 
services to the government as a private. Governor Randall, knowing the material 
with which Mr. Fairchild was made, bftered him tlie lieutenant-colonelcy of 
the First regiment. His knowledge, however, of military affairs being that 
gained bv belonging to the governor's guard, he felt himself inefticient to 




4i8 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

occupy a position so responsible. However, he was elected captain of Com- 
pany K in the First regiment. 

At Ciainsville, Colonel O'Connor was killed and Captain FairchiUl as- 
sumed full command of the Second Wisconsin. At the battle of (iettysburg, 
the Second regiment, which was a part of the " Iron Brigade," was reduced to 
a handful of men, whose field officers were either killed or wounded. At this 
battle Colonel Fairchild left an arm as a reminder of that eventful occasion. 
For gallantry at Gettysburg he was made a brigadier-general of volunteers. 

Prior to 1863, ^fr. Fairchild, while not active in politics, was a Democrat, 
but became estranged from the party on account of their indifference and cold- 
ness towards him. In the fall of 1863, he allowed his name to go on the Union 
Republican ticket. In order to accept the office of secretary of state, he was 
obliged to give up his hard-earned rank in the army. In November, 1865, 
General Fairchild was elected governor, which office he held for three consecu- 
tive terms. 

In January, 1872, he retired to private life, but on the following October 
was appointed by President Grant to serve as consul at Liverpool. At the end 
of five years of useful and pleasant service as consul at Liverpool he received 
a commission as consul-general at Paris, where he again had an honorable and 
successful i)ul)lic career. Again, when he had decided to resign and return 
home, he was appointed by President Hayes to succeed James Russell Lo well 
as minister at the Spanish court. After serving in this capacity for two years 
with honor to himself, and credit to the government he represented, he felt 
that he could no longer keep his family in exile, and therefore resigned. 

Upon his return to Wisconsin in March, 1882, he was welcomed home by 
all classes and given an ovation of the most enthusiastic description. In Feb. 
ruary, 1886, he was elected commander of the Wisconsin department of the 
Grand Army of the Republic, and in the following August, commander-in- 
chief of that body. 

Creneral Fairchild still retains his interest in all the political questions of 
the day, and during the general election campaigns works from Maine to 
Texas and at his own expense. The general lives in the home built by his 
father more than forty years ago, on the banks of Lake Monona, and there, 
amidst old associations, dispenses hospitality in a manner characteristic of his 
bright and cheerful disposition. 

iMPOkiANr Events Durinc; 1866- 1867. 

On January i, 1866, the newly-elected state officers were inaugurated and 
entered upon their official duties. The inauguration ceremonies took place on 
the evening of the ist of January at the capitol. At eight o'clock in the eve- 
ning the outgoing ami incoming officers entered the hall in a body. After 



WISCONSIN'S STATE GOVERNORS. 4i(> 

Governor Lewis delivered a valedictory address, Governor Eairchild appeared 
and took the oath of office, which was administered by C'hief-Justice Dixon, ot 
the supreme court. The state otiicers-elect then came forward, separately, 
and took the oath of otifice. 

The nineteenth session of the state legislature convened on the lothday of 
January, 1866, and, after being in session ninety-three days, adjourned on the 
12th day of April. 

The governor's message contained numerous im|)ortant recommendations, 
among which were the proposition to cancel the state bonds, subse([uently in- 
vested in the trust funds, substituting non-negotiable certificates of indebted- 
ness in their place ; recommentlations resj)ecting assessments of taxation ; the 
revision of the statutes, necessitated by over six hundred amendments ; the 
completion of the capitol ; the acceptance of the agricultural college grant ; the 
enlargement of the hospital for the insane ; and the establishment of a home 
for the soldiers' orphans. The message closed with a beautiful and elocjuent 
tribute to the brave and patriotic men for their services in behalf of the union. 

Mrs. Governor Harvey conceived the idea of converting the Harvey U. 
S. A. general hospital into a soldiers' orphan home. The home was opened 
January i, 1866, through this estimable lady's influence. The necessary 
funds, $12,834.69, were raised by private subscription. The grounds were 
those upon which Governor Farwell erected buildings in 1856, and are situ- 
ated about a mile from the capitol scjuare. The home became a state institu- 
tion March 31, 1866. Prior to the purchase of the property by the state, the 
home had been opened by Mrs. Harvey, with the co-operation of a board of 
trustees. Under their management the building was thoroughly refitted. At 
the time the state took possession, there were eighty-four orphans duly ad- 
mitted and properly cared for. Mrs. Harvey was the first superintendent of 
this institution. On May i, 1867, she resigned, and was succeeded by Mr. 
F. B. Brewer, who occupied the position until January i, 1868, at which time 
the Re\ . I. N. Cundall was elected to the position. 

At the congressional election in November, 1866, Halbert E. I'anie, Ben- 
jamin F. Hopkins, Ama.sa Cobb, Charles A. Eldredge, Philetus Sawyer and 
C. C. Washburn were elected members of Congress. 

On January 22d, the state senate cast the following vote for United States 
senator: Timothy O. Howe, twenty-three votes; Charles A. Eldredge, nine 
votes; E. S. Bragg, one vote. In the assembly the votes cast for United 
States senator were as follows : Timothy O. Howe, se\enty-two votes; Charles 
A. Eldredge, thirty-one votes ; E. S. Bragg, one vote; J. J. Guppy, one vote. 
On January 23d, in a joint convention of the two houses, Timothy O. Howe 
was declared duly elected for the term of six years, commencing March 4, 1868. 



420 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

The Republican Union state convention convened at Madison on the 5th 
day of September, 1867, and made the following nominations: F(;r governor, 
Lucius Fairchild ; lieutenant-governor, Wyman Spooner ; secretary of state, 
Thomas S. Allen ; state treasurer, William E. Smith; attorney-general, Charles 
R. Gill; bank comptroller, J. M. Rusk; state prison commissioner, Henry 
Cordier; superintendent of public instruction, A. J. Craig. 

The Democratic convention met at Madison on the 12th day of Septem- 
ber, 1867, and placed the following gendemen in nomination : For governor, 
J. J. Tallmadge; lieutenant-governor, G. L. Park; secretary of state, Emil 
Rothe; state treasurer, Peter Rupp ; attorney-general, L. P. Weatherby ; bank 
comptroller, R. J. Harvey; state prison commissioner, Ole Heg ; superinten- 
dent of public instruction, Lyman C. Draper. Mr. Draper dechned the nomi- 
nation and his place was filled by substituting the name of William H. Peck. 

At the November election the Republican ticket was elected by majorities 
ranging from four thousand to six thousand. 

Events of 1868-1869. 

The twenty-first session of the state legislature convened on January 8, 
1868, and adjourned March 6, after a session of fifty-nine days. 

Governor Fairchild, in his message, gave important facts relative to the 
several departments of the state and its reformatory and benevolent institudons. 
Among other matters contained in his message, of great importance to the 
state, was his recommendation that the state should promptly call upon con- 
gress for relief in auditing the claims against the general government of $248,000, 
which was just and equitable. J 

During this session of the legislature seventy-eight laws and five hundred 
and fourteen private and local laws were enacted and passed. 

The Republican nominees for congress, in i868,were as follows: H. E. Paine, 
B. F. Hopkins, Amasa Cobb, L. F. Frisby, Philetus Sawyer, and C. C. Washburn. 
The Democratic nominees were : Alexander Mitchell, John Winans, T. F. H. 
Passmore, C. A. Eldredge, Joseph Vilas and A. G. Ellis. The whole Repub- 
lican congressional ticket was elected, except L. F. Frisby, who was beaten by 
Charles A. Eldredge from the Fourth district. 

The twenty-second session of the legislature convened on the 13 of Decem- 
ber, 1869, and adjourned March nth, after a session of fifty-eight days. The 
senate was organized by the Honorable Wyman Spooner, lieutenant-governor, 
taking his seat as president. L. P. Hills was elected chief clerk, and W. H. 
Hamilton was elected sergeant-at-arms. In the assembly, the Honorable A. 
M. Thompson was elected speaker, E. W. Young, chief clerk, and Rollin C. 
Kelly, sergeant-at-arms. 



WISCONSIN'S STATE GOVERNORS. 421 

The most important business transacted by this legislature was the election 
of the United States senator to succeed the Hon. James R. Doolittle, whose 
term of otiice exj)ired March 4, 1870. The Hon. Matthew H. Carpenter 
received the nomination, on the sixth ballot, by a vote of forty-four against 
forty-three for other candidates. Mr. Carpenter's principal opponent was the 
Hon. C. C. Washburn. 

The Rejjublican state convention, on September i, i86g, nominated the 
following state officers: For governor, Lucius Eairchild ; lieutenant-governor, 
'I'haddeus C. Pound; secretary of state, E. A. Spencer; state treasurer, Henry 
Baetz; attorney-general, S. S. l^arlow ; state-prison commissioner, Geo. F. 
Wheeler; superintendent of public instruction, A. J. Craig. Mr. Spencer de- 
clined the nomination, and Elwellyn Breese was appointed to fill the vacancy. 

On Sei)tember 8th, the state Democratic convention, held at Milwaukee, 
placed in nomination the following ticket : For governor, C. 1). Robinson; lieu- 
tenant-governor, H. H. Gray; secretary of state, A. G. Cook; state treasurer, 
John J^lack; attorney-general, S. U. Pinney ; state-prison commissioner, C. M. 
Pordoe ; sujjerintendent of public instruction, F. K. Gannon. 

At the November election, the whole Rei)ul)lican ticket was elected, Gov- 
ernor Fairchild's majority being 8,343. 

EvKNTS OF 1870. 

On January 3d, 1870, Governor Eairchild entered upon his official duties 
for a third term, which fact was conclusive that his services had been duly 
ajipreciated by the peojjle of the Padger state. 

On the i2th day of January, 1870, the twenty-third session of the legisla- 
ture convened, and, after being in session sixty-five days, adjourned on March 
17th. On the 13th day of January, Ciovernor Fairchild appeared before the 
joint convention of the legislature and delivered his annual message. 

In January, 1870, Governor Fairchild received official information that the 
claims of the state of Wisconsin against the general government for ecjuipping 
troo])s for the union army, to the amount of $219,742.06, previously sus- 
pended or disallowed, had been audited and the sum placed to the credit of 
the state. During the previous year the sum of $131,000 had also been al- 
lowed, leaving a large amount of other claims remaining suspended and 
unpaid. 

On July 2d, I 870, the Honorable A. J. Craig, state superintendent of 
j)ublic instruction, died. (General Samuel Fallows was appointed by Governor 
Fairchild to fill the place of the late superintendent. 

In July, 1870, the board of commissioners ajipointed by the governor, to 
locate a site for the new hospital for the insane, recommended, .subject to the 
approval of the governor, a site on Lake Winnebago, four miles north of Osh- 



422 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

kosh, on the main line of the Chicago and Northwestern railroad. The legis- 
lature authorized the approjiriation of $io,ooo for the original purchase, 
which was about three hundred acres of land. The commissioners, under the 
provisions of the act were authorized to obtain plans for the buildings, and to 
contract for the immediate erection of the same. For this purpose the sum of 
$125,000 was appropriated, $40,000 to be expended or drawn from the state 
treasury during the year of 1870. 

During the month of July bids were opened for the erection and comple- 
tion of the female college building on the state university grounds. The 
amount appropriated by the legislature was $50,000. 

At the congressional convention, the followmg nominations were made : 
Democratic, Alexander Mitchell, A. G. Cook, John Strachan, Charles A. 
Eldredge, Joseph Stringham and Alexander Meggett. Republican, William 
P. Lyon, G. W. Hazelton, J. Allen Barber, J. A. Watrous, Philetus Sawyer 
and J. M. Rusk. , 

At the November election in 1870, Alexander Mitchell and Charles A. 
Eldredge, Democrats, and G. W. Hasleton, J. Allen Barber, Philetus Sawyer 
and J. M. Rusk, Republicans, were elected members of congress. 

The government census taken this year shows the population of Wiscon- 
sin to be 1,540,670, an increase of 278,789 since i860. 

Evp:nts of 187 1. 

The twenty-fourth session of the state legislature convened on the i8th 
day of January, 187 1, and adjourned, after a session of twenty-four days, on 
March 25th. On January 12th, the governor met the legislature in joint con- 
vention and delivered his annual address. 

The distinguished jurist and one of the associate justices of the supreme 
court, Honorable Bryon Payne, died on the 13th day of January, 187 1. A few 
days after the governor appointed William P. Lyon, of Racine, to fill the va- 
cancy until the general election in spring, when a justice was elected by vote of 
the people. 

The building commissioners of the Northern Wisconsin hospital for the 
insane met in February, 1871, and, after examining the bids for the erection or 
the asylum, awarded the contract to James Reynolds, of Milwaukee, who was 
the lowest bidder, for $146,581. 

The Republican state convention which convened at Madison on the 30th 
day of August, 1871, placed the following gentlemen in nomination: For 
governor: C. C. Washburn; lieutenant-governor, M. H. Pettitt; secretary 
of state, Llwellyn Breeze ; state treasurer, Henry Baetz ; superintendent of 
public instruction, Samuel Fallows; attorney-general, S. S. Barlow; state- 
prison commissioner, C. F, Wheeler ; emigrant commissioner, O. C.Johnson. 



WISC0NSIN'S STATE GOVERNORS. 423 

On August 23, 1871, the Democratic state convention convened at Madi- 
son, and placed in nomination the following ticket: For governor, James R. 
Doolittle ; lieutenant-goxernor, John A. Rice; secretary of state, Milton 
Montgomery; state treasurer, Anton Klauss ; attorney-general, E. S. Bragg; 
state-prison commissioner, L. E. Johnson ; superintendent of public instruc- 
tion, Warren I). Parker; emigrant commissioner, Jacob Boden. 

It was in October, 187 1, when the disastrous Chicago fire occurred, 
which was shortly followed by great fires in Northern Wisconsin. The fires in 
^\'isconsin devastated millions of dollars worth of property, thousands of homes, 
and an innumerable loss of life. At Peshtigo alone four hundred and seven 
bodies were found. Destructive fires also took place in Northwestern Wiscon- 
sin, in the Black river pineries. It is estimated that over one thousand lives 
were lost during the month of October through this source. The people 
throughout the state with one accord, with their accustomed liberality, sent large 
supplies of food and clothing to the destitute. The humane -and charitable 
institutions made praiseworthy eftbrts to alleviate the suffering and privations 
of those demanding their sympathy. 

At the November election this year the whole Republican ticket was 
elected. The Republican candidates received majorities ranging from eight 
thousand to ten thousand. 




Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel and Stages. 



Chapter LVII. 

Administration of Governor Washburn. 

1872 — 1874. 

Biographical Sketch of Governor Washljuni. — Important Events. — Disasters. 

Political. 



Gadwaladfr Coldoon Washburn was our next governor. He was of good 
old English family, and in his youth was quiet, studious and thoughtful. While 
a boy he worked on the farm and went to the town school until he reached his 
seventeenth year, at which time he entered a store at Haljowell, a thriving little 

place, where both his social and business 
opportunities were unusually good. Dur- 
ing the winter of 1838-39 he was em- 
ployed as teacher of the principal school 
nt Wiscasset, and so earned enough 
money to start west. He went so far as 
Davenport, Iowa, where he taught a 
})rivate school for three months. On the 
day following the close of his school, he 
accepted a position Avith D. D. Owen, 
on the Iowa geological survey, which 
congress at that time had just ordered to 
be made. 

In the winter of 1839-40, Mr. Wash- 
burn came back east to Rock Island, 
Illinois, where he began the study of law 
with his old-time friend, Joseph B. Wells. 
In the election of 1840 he supported 
General Harrison, and was himself elected 
surveyor of Rock Island county. In March, 1842, Mr. Washburn removed 
to Mineral Point, Wisconsin, and there, after being admitted to the bar, first 
began the practice of his profession. 

Mineral Point at this time was a thriving litde mining town, and Mr. 
Washburn, by his integrity and ability, soon built up for himself a large and 
profitable practice. 

425 




426 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

In 1844 he joined himself with Cyrus Woodman, and for years the firm of 
Washburn and Woodman transacted a large and lucrative financial and land 
business. 

In 1852 Mr. Washburn was invited by Governor Farwell and Justice Har- 
low S. Orton to go to Madison and assist in framing a general banking law. 
Under this law the Mineral Point bank was established by Mapes, Washburn 
and Woodman. In March, 1855, Mr. Woodman retired from the firm, and 
the entire management of the business fell on Mr. Washburn alone. 

At the previous November election, Mr. Washburn had been elected by 
the Republicans, entirely without solicitation on his part, to be a member of 
congress. His brothers, one from Maine, the other from Illmois, were also 
members of congress, and for the ensuing six years these three brothers used 
their united efforts in behalf of their country. 

In 1861 Mr. Washburn removed to La Crosse, but hardly had he settled 
down when, perceiving the North was in need of men, he raised the 
Second regmient ot cavalry, he being its colonel, and reported for duty Octo- 
ber 10, 1861. He was made major-general in November, 1862, and was an 
energetic, successful commander up to the time of his resigning in May, 1865. 

In 1861 Mr. Washburn joined in the minority report against slavery and 
secession. His speech to the house on the subject was as follows : 

"Sir, I have no special dread in regard to the future of this Republic. 
Whatever may come, I have an abiding faith in a kind Providence that has 
ever watched over us, that passing events will be overruled for good, and for 
the welfare of mankind in this and other lands. If this union must be dis- 
solved, whether by peaceable secession, or through fires and blood and civil 
war, we shall have the consolation of knowing that when the conflict is over, 
those who survive it will be, what they never have been, inhabitants of a free 
country." 

In 1866, Mr. Washburn was again elected to congress, and in 1868 re- 
elected. In 187 1, ai the close of his term in congress, the Republicans made 
him their candidate for governor. By ten thousand majority he was elected 
over James R. Doolittle. 

His administration was marked by usefulness and economy. He was re- 
nominated in 1873, with William R. Taylor as his opponent. William R. 
Taylor was elected and the othcial career of Governor Washburn was ended. 

In private life, Mr. Washburn attracted more, if possible, attention than 
in public. He was the first to purchase pine lands, and held them while other 
purchasers were selling their lands for a mere nothing. He made millions of 
dollars in the manufacture of lumber and flour. In 1878, he went to Europe, 
and there learned the various methods of making flour. He was the first to 



WISCONSIN'S STATE GOVERNORS. 427 

introduce into this country the Hungarian system and the patent process of 
producing flour. His mill l)ecame the largest and best in the world. 

Governor Washburn's charitable i)ur])oses were conducted in a noble but 
modest manner — Washburn observatory to the Wisconsin state university, at 
Madison; People's library in La Crosse; Minneapolis Orphan asylum, in 
honor of his mother; his beautiful home and grounds, near Madison, to the 
Catholic Sisters, and numerous lesser gifts. His death occurred at the age of 
sixty-four, at Eureka Springs, Arkansas, on May 14, 1882. 

Events of 1872. 

The twenty-fifth session of our state legislature convened on January i, 
1872, and, after being in session seventy-seven days, adjourned on the 27th 
day of Mai'ch. 

Hon. H. M. Pettitt, of Kenosha, the lieutenant-governor, took his seat as 
president of the senate, while J. H. Wagner was elected chief clerk, and W. D. 
Hoard, sergeant-at-arms. Daniel Hall, was chosen speaker in the assembly, 
E. W. Young, elected chief clerk, and S. S. Fifield, sergeant-at-arms. 

On January nth, at 2 o'clock in the afternoon. Governor Washburn deliv- 
ered his first annual message to the two houses of the legislature in joint con- 
vention. The message was long, and set forth in detail the general condition 
of state affairs. He also referred to i^ecent great conflagrations within the state 
and suggested appropriate measures to afford relief. In this able document he 
recommended tlie civil service reform, a return to specie payments at an early 
day, and the adoption of a general telegraph system in connection with our 
postal system. 

The governor, in speaking of the great fires of 187 1, said : 

"During the last days of September, and during the first days of October, 
the northeast part of the state was overrun by fires, destroying much prop- 
erty, and causing great distress, but nothing compared to what was soon to 
follow; for on the 8th and 9th of October a conflagration, unparalleled in the 
world's history, swept over portions of the counties Oconto, Brown, Door and 
Kewaunee, consuming all before it. 

"In vain the unhappy people sought refuge in open fields, swamps, lakes 
and rivers. The fire-blast, which seemed to come down from Heaven, was so 
sudden and appalling, that many believed that the long fore told destruction 
of the world was at hand. By this conflagration it is estimated that over a 
thousand people lost their lives; and many others were horribly burned and 
maimed, and doomed to drag out a life more intolerable than death itself. As 
soon as intelligence of this great calamity reached the executive office, my pre- 
decessor, with that promi)titude and humanity which are to be expected from 
him, proceeded at once to the scene of the disaster, to lend such aid as was 



428 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

within his power. AppeaHng at once to the charitable for rehef to the sutiterers, 
the great heart of the country resi)onded with a generosity that calls for the 
warmest gratitude. 

''The people of the state, in the most prompt and liberal manner, sent 
forward money, clothmg and supplies for their suffering fellow-citizens. The 
people of other states were not less prompt and generous in their liberal offer- 
ings; and even Canada and Europe heard our cry, and manifested their sym- 
pathy with a liberal hand. 

"I place before the legislature the full and satisfactory report of my prede- 
cessor, detailing his action in regard to the sufterers. The responsibility taken 
by him and the state treasurer cannot fail to meet your approval. The 
urgency of the case fully justifies their action. It cannot be regarded as a 
precedent; and such an occasion is not likely to agaui arise. 

"The total amount of money received at the executive office for the 
benefit of the sufferers, January i, 1872, was $166,789.96, of which sum 
$46,900 was transmitted to the relief committee at Green Bay; $8,005.16 was 
expended for supplies; $487.57, for sundry expenses, leaving unexpended, 
$111,397.23, for whichi hold the receipt of Honorable Henry Baetz, state treas- 
urer, for $33,539.05, and a certificate of deposit in the state bank at Madison 
for $77,858.18. 

"In addition to the foregoing contributions of money, large amounts of 
clothing and provisions have been received through the executive office, and 
it is understood that large amounts of money, clothing and supplies have also 
been contributed through the Milwaukee and Green Bay relief committees. 
It is recommended that a joint relief committee, consisting of one member of 
the senate and two of the assembly, be constituted at an early day, with 
authority to proceed at once to the 'burnt district' and investigate the con- 
dition of the people there, and confer with the rehef committees of Green Bay 
and Milwaukee, and ascertain what amount of relief will be required to place 
them in a comfortable condition, and when they can be self-sustaining; and I 
also ask that you constitute some authority through which the amount now 
subject to my order may be disposed of so as to give the most relief, and best 
meet the wishes of the contributors." 

At the November election in 1872, the Republican electors were chosen. 
At the meeting of the electorial college, the ten votes of Wisconsin were cast for 
U. S. Grant, for president, and Henry Wilson, vice-president. The Republi- 
can candidates for congress in the different congressional districts were Charles 
G. Williams, G. W. Hazelton, J. A. Barber, H. Baetz, F. C. Winckler, Philetus 
Sawyer, J. M. Rusk, and A. S. McDill. 



WISCONSIN'S STATE GOVERNORS. 429 

The Democratic candidates in the eight congressional districts were Scott 
Sloan, G. B. Smith, A. Warden, Alexander Mitchell. C. A. Eldredge, M. P. 
Eindsley, S. J. Marston, and William Carston. 

The Rei)ul)lican candidates were all elected except H. Baetz and F. C. 

Winckler. Alexander Mitchell and Charles A. Eldredge, Democrats, were 

elected m their places. 

Events of 1873. 

The twenty-sixth session of the slate legislature convened on the 8th day 
of January, 1873, and adjourned March 20th, after a seventy-two days session. 
(Governor Washburn, on January 9th, delivered his second annual message to 
the two houses of the legislature. This document was of more than ordinary 
interest, and far above tlie standard documents of the kind. The message 
opened with a clear and brief reference to the excellent returns from agricul- 
tural pursuits, the development of the state's industries, the rapid advance in 
manufacturing, the progress of education, and the rai)id and healthful exten- 
sion of the railways within our borders. The most important business of this 
session of the legislature was the election of a United States senator to fill the 
place of Honorable Timothy O. Howe, whose term of office would expire March 
4, 1874. On the 2 2d day of January the two houses met in joint convention and 
compared the journals relatmg to the election of the United States senator. In 
the senate Timothy O. Howe had received twenty-two votes, and Henry L. Pal- 
mer nine. In the assembly Mr. Howe had received sixty-one votes and Mr. 
Palmer thirty-five. The president announced that Honorable T. (). Howe 
was elected I' nited States senator for the term of six years from the 4th of 
March, 1874. 

Disasters. 

On July 4th, 1873, eleven persons were drowned on Green Lake. The 
drowning was occasioned by the hurricane which passed through Green Lake 
county, devastating consideral)le ijrojjerty. 

On September 14, 1873, the lake steamer Ironsides was wrecked between 
Milwaukee and Grand Haven and twenty-eight persons were lost. 

Foi.niCAL. 

On the 27th day of August, 1873, the Republican Union convention, 
which convened at Madison, nominated the following ticket : For governor, 
Honorable C. C. Washburn; lieutenant-governor, Robert H.Baker; secretary 
of state, E. W. \'oung ; treasurer, Ole C. Johnson; attorney-geneial, L. F. 
Frisljy ; sui)erintendent of public instruction, Robert Graham ; commissioner 
of emigration, (i. P. Lindman. 

The Liberal Democratic convention met at Milwaukee on the 25th oi Sep- 
tember, and made the following nominations: For governor, William R. 



430 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

Taylor; lieutenant-governor, C. D. Parker; state treasurer, Ferdinand Kuehn ; 
secretary of state, Peter Doyle ; attorney-general, A. Scott Sloan; superin- 
tendent of public instruction, Edward Searing; state prison commissioner, 
M.J. Argard. 

At the November election, William R. Taylor received 81,599 votes, while 
C. C. Washburn received 66,224 votes. The whole Liberal Democratic ticket 
was elected, by majorities ranging from thirteen to fourteen thousand. 



illllHllli'- 



Chapter LYIII. 



Administration of Governor Taylor. 
1874-1876. 

Biography of Governor Taylor. — His Able Message. — Passage of the Potter Railway 
Law. — The Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway Company and the Chicago and North- 
western Railway Company Defy tlie Law Until it is Sustained by the Supreme Court. — Pass 
Bribery. — Defeat of Honorable Matt. H. Carpenter for the United States Senate. — Oshkosh 
Burned. — Political. 

William Robert Taylor is of Scotch j)arentage, and was born in Con- 
necticut, |uly 10, 1820. \\'lien but three ^veeks old his mother died. His 
father was an ocean captain, and was lost at sea when the boy was but five 
years of age ; thus, at the early age of five, he was left an orphan. He was now 

placed under severe guardianship in Jef- 
ferson county. New York, and there 
remained alternately studying and work- 
ing until he had secured a certificate of 
admission to the third term of the sopho- 
more year of Union college, at Schenec- 
tady, New York. Not being able to 
pay his way in college, he went into a 
sugar-bush and made maple sugar and 
molasses with which to pay the tuition 
already due. 

He then taught a private school and 
afterwards an academy. In 1840 he 
entered a class at Elyria, Ohio, prepar- 
ing to become a teacher. At this time 
tlie La Porte authorities were oftering a 
large salary to the teacher that could 
manage their school, which was well 
known as being the most rough and 
ungovernable in that part of the country. Young Taylor undertook the task, 
and before the end of his third term it became the premium school of the 
section. 

He next undertook the management of a grist mill, saw mill and a cupola 
furnace, but was obliged to give it up because of his impaired health. He then 
studied medicine, and in the winter of 1845-46 attended a course of lectures at 
the medical college at Cleveland, Ohio. 

481 




432 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

In 1848 he removed to Wisconsin and settled in Dane county. Soon he 
became officially known, and for forty years thereafter was almost continuously 
in some position of public trust. He was chairman of his town ; superintend- 
ent of public schools; three times chairman of the county board of supervisors ; 
was county superintendent of poor for seventeen years ; was trustee, vice-presi- 
dent and member of the executive board of the state hospital for insane from its 
re-organization in i860 until he became governor m 1874; has been elected to 
both branches of the legislature ; was seven years president of the Dane county 
Agricultural society ; and two years president of the Wisconsin State Agricul- 
tural association, and in the civil war was the first man in Dane county to 
ofter a bounty for volunteers. 

In 1873 he was nominated by acclamation for governor by a convention 
of "Democrats, Liberal Republicans, and other electors friendly to genuine 
reform through equal and impartial legislation, honesty in office and rigid 
economy in the administration of public aftairs." 

The most important measure of Governor Taylor's administration was the 
enactment of the "Potter Law," which aimed to place railways completely 
under the state's control, limiting charges for transportation, classifying freight 
and regulating the price for its transportation. 

The two principalrailway corporations in the state, the Chicago and North- 
Western Railway company and the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Rail- 
way Company, served formal notice upon the governor that they would not 
respect the provisions of the Potter law. The governor immediately answered 
this notice by a proclamation, saying, "The law of the land must be respected 
and obeyed. While none are so weak as to be without its protection, none are 
so strong as to be above its restraints." 

The railway corporations then appealed to the courts, and the governor 
was forced to confront the best legal talent in the land. Upon the result of this 
litigation depended not only Wisconsin's constitutional rights, but the consti- 
tutional right of all other states to enact similar laws. The contention was car- 
ried both to the state supreme court and the supreme court of the United 
States, the main question being the constitutional power of the state over cor- 
porations of its own creation. 

The complete and absolute power of the state was finally established. In 
this manner, by Governor Taylor and his administration, was settled an issue 
between the people and the corporations which aftected materially all the 
commercial and agricultural interests of the state. 

During his administration $800,000 was obtained from the general gov- 
ernment for the improvement of the Fox and Wisconsin rivers ; the Wisconsin 
Central Railroad company was compelled, before the governor would sign the 



WISCONSIN'S STATE GOVERNORS. 433 

certificates of its land grant, to give substantial assurance that the projected 
line from Stevens Point to Portage should be constructed. 

While William R. Taylor was governor, appropriations were cut down, 
taxation diminished, department employes lessened, government expenses cur- 
tailed, and the total amounts for state purposes were reduced more than a 
hundred thousand dollars below what they had been in many years. 

Governor Taylor devoted his undivided attention to the office in his trust. 
He attended personally to the many labors of his office, and among all our 
governors none discharged their duties in a more upright and honorable man- 
ner tlian did William Robert Taylor, our "Farmer Governor." 

Events of 1874. 

The Reform party of the state of Wisconsin commenced its administra- 
tion on the 5th day of January, 1874. The newly-elected officers commenced 
taking their oaths of offices on the same day at half-past eleven in the fore- 
noon, the oath of office being administered by L. S. Dixon, chief justice of the 
supreme court. 

The state legislature convened on the 14th day of January, 1874. Hon. 
Charles D. Parker, the lieutenant-governor, took his seat as president of the 
senate. J. W. Waggoner was elected chief clerk, and O. U. Aken sergeant- 
at-arrns. (iabriel Bouck was elected speaker of the assembly, George W. Peck 
chief clerk, and Joseph Deuster sergeant-at-arms. 

On January 15th Governor Taylor attended the joint convention of the 
two houses and delivered his first annual message. His message was a bold, 
clear and able document. He referred to the financial disturbances of the 
country, and said that accompanying them had come an imperative demand 
from the people for a purer political morality, a more equitable apportionment 
of the burdens and bles.sings of government, and a more rigid economy in the 
administration of public aftairs. The previous suggestion of ex-Secretary 
Breese, on the subject of taxing railway companies, he commended and 
thought also that foreign insurance comjjanies should be made to pay more 
taxes to the state, and recommended that all fees received by the state officers 
should go into the treasury. 

The governor, in a concise and comprehensive manner, presented to the 
legislature the different features of the railroad traffic question. He laid down 
certain propositions to guide the legislature in their investigation upon this 
subject. He also suggested that farmers have rights that legislators are bound 
to respect, and said that the time had come when some relief should be afforded 
against the greed and extortion of monojjlists. He thought the evils com- 
plained of by the people against the great monopolies could better be remedied 
l)y state than by federal legislation. 



434 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

The Madison Democrat, in referring to the acts of this session of the leg- 
islature, said : 

" It has curtailed the current expenses, and has furnished the people some 
protection against the extortion of grand monopolies. The new party has 
inaugurated an era of retrenchment and reform hitherto unknown in the history 
of Wisconsin. An enumeration of some of the important bills that passed the 
Reform assembly, to meet with defeat in the Republican senate, are given. 
The first Reform measure that was killed by the senate was the registry law, 
that probably would have saved the state at least $25,000. The warehouse 
bill, that would have saved the farmers of the state one cent a bushel on all the 
grain they sold, went through the house to meet its fate in the senate. The 
bill to tax insurance companies, that would have brought $400,000 into the 
state treasury and relieved the people of that amount of burdensome taxes, 
was killed in the senate, after passing the assembly by a large majority. The 
best and most restrictive railroad bill of the session was adopted by the Reforna 
a.ssembly, as embodying the legislation required on this subject, and was 
amended in the senate by the acioption of a substitute very mild in its provis- 
ions, and more acceptable to railroad monopolies. The assembly passed a bill 
increasing the license fee of railroads to five per cent., but the senate reduced 
the amount to four per cent. The house also proposed a bill abolishing unjust 
discriminations by railroad companies; but it was either defeated by the senate, 
or so modified as to destroy its force. And, to close its labors, the senate re- 
fused to concur in the bill i)assed by the assembly to straighten the line of the 
Central Wisconsin railroad between Portage City and Stevens Point." 

On April 27, 1874, after the passage of the so-called Potter law, Alexander 
Mitchell, the president of the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway com- 
pany, and Albert Keep, the president of the Chicago and North- Western Rail- 
way company, notified Governor Taylor by letter that their several corpora- 
tions would disregard that part of the railroad law of Wisconsin pertaining to 
prices and so forth. 

On May 16, 1874, A. Scott Sloan, the attorney-general, filed petitions in 
the supreme court charging the above railway corporations with violations of 
the railroad laws and asked leave to bring suits for the forfeiture of their charters. 

Upon the reading and filing of the petition of the state's attorney, the 
court granted the right to the attorney-general to bring an action in the nature 
oi z. quo warranto, in the supreme court, in the name of the state of Wiscon- 
sin, against the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway company, and 
against the Chicago and North-Western Railway company, for the purpose of 
vacating their charters and annuling the existence of the respective corporations. 

The Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway company, on June ist 
commenced proceedings to enjoint the state by action in the federal courts. 



WISCONSIN'S STATE GOVERNORS. 435 

The railway corporations, through their creditors, served notice upon the 
attorney-general that application would be applied for in the United States 
district court, for the western district of Wisconsin, to restrain the state from 
nstituting fixed rates for freight and passenger traffic. Under the new law 
the railway companies in the intermediate adhered to their former rates without 
regard to the law of 1874. 

On the 4th day of June the case came up for argument in the United 
States district court before Judges Urummond and Hopkins. C. B. Lawrence 
appeared in l)ehalf of the Chicago & North- Western Railway company, and 
Attorney-General Sloan on the i)art of the state. After some discussion the 
matter was deferred until the ist of July. In the intermediate Chief Justice 
Dixon was retained as associate counsel for the state, he having retired from 
the supreme bench on the 15th day of June, and his place filled by the appoint- 
ment of E. G. Ryan, the celebrated jurist. 

On July ist this noted case was brought up for argument in the United 
States district court. Judges Davis, Drummond and Hopkins presiding. The 
case on the part of the bondholders for the Chicago and North-Western Railway 
company was presented by B. C. Cook, of Chicago, C. B. Lawrence and Judge 
Stoughton, of New York ; and on the part of the state by the attorney-general, 
A. Scott Sloan, assisted by L. S. Dixon and I. C. Sloan, all of whom were 
legal luminaries. Tlie court, on June 6th, rendered its decision, sustaining the 
validity of the law, and held that the legislature had absolute authority of the 
question of rates for freight and passenger traffic from point to point within 
Wisconsin. .\s a legal (juestion was involved regulating the commerce between 
states, the court desired to hear further arguments on that point. 

On July 8th Messrs. Sloan and Dixon, in behalf of the state, filed in the 
supreme court a bill in equity, complaining of the persistent violation of the 
state law regulating railroads by the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Rail- 
way company, and the Chicago and North-Western Railway company, and 
prayed that these companies be enjoined and restrained from disobeying .said 
law, so far as it was held valid by the decision of the United States district 
court. 

On the 4th day of August the supreme court met to hear the application 
in behalf of the state to enjoin the two railway corporations and compel them 
to obey the laws regulating railroad traffic. The state was represented by 
Attorney- General A. Scott Sloan, Judge L. S. Dixon, Judge Harlow S. Orton 
and I.e. Sloan. The Chicago and North-Western Railway company was repre- 
sented by Judge C. B. Lawrence, B. C. Cook, of Chicago, and George B. 
Smith, of Madison. The Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway company 
was represented by John W. Cary, Judge F. L. Spooner, with J. C. Gregory 



436 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

and F. J. Lamb, of Madison, and Colonel J. C. Spooner, attorney for the West 
Wisconsin Railway company, of Hudson. 

The decision in this celebrated case was rendered on the isth day of 
September, by Chief Justice Ryan. The opinion fully sustained the law 
passed by the legislature of 1874, and the right of the state to control corpora- 
tions. The opinion concluded by announcing that the motions of the attor- 
ney-general would be granted and that the order issue as to all the roads of the 
Chicago and North- Western Railway company, and all the roads of the Chi- 
cago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway company, except the railroad from 
Milwaukee to Prairie du Chien, built under the territorial charter of 1848. 

It is a lamentable fact, and one reflecting seriously upon our law-makers, 
that, since the administration of Governor Taylor, the great railrway corpora- 
tions within the state, through pass bribery, have controlled every legislature 
so far as legislation aftecting their interests are concerned; although the last 
legislature, it is said, passed an act prohibiting future legislators from accepting 
passes from railway corporations. A law should be passed makmg it a penal 
offense for members of the legislature, county, circuit and supreme court judges 
to accept or use railroad passes. 

The Republican conventions of the respective congressional districts 
placed in nomination for members of congress, C. G. Williams, L. B. Caswell, 
H. S. Magoon, H. Ludington, Hiram Barber, A. M. Kimball, J. M. Rusk 
and A. S. McDill. 

The Liberal Reform and Democratic conventions placed in nomination 
N. D. Fratt, A. G. Cook, C. F. Thompson, W. P. Lynde, Sam D. Burchard, 
Gabriel Bouck, D. C. Fulton and George W\ Cate. 

At the November election the following congressmen were elected : C. G. 
Williams, Republican; L. B. Caswell, Republican; H. S. Magoon, RepubH- 
can; W. P. Lynde, Reform; S. D. Burchard, Reform; A. M. Kimball, Re- 
publican; J. M. Rusk, Republican, and G. W. Cate, Liberal. 

This election created and changed the political complexion of the next 
legislature so that it consisted of seventeen Rei)ublicans and iifteen Liberal 
senators, and one Independent, while the assembly consisted of sixty-four Re- 
publican members, thirty-five Reformers and one Independent. Both houses 
of our legislature were again in the hands of the Republican party. 

Events oy 1875. 

The twenty-eighth annual session of the state legislature convened at 
Madison, on January 13, 1875. Lieutenant-Governor C. D. Parker, took his 
seat as president of the senate. After the senators-elect had subscribed and 
taken the oath of office, that body proceeded to the election of its officers, which 
was as follows: F. A. Bennett, chief clerk ; A. U. Aken, sergeant-at-arms. 



WISCONSIN'S STATE GOVERNORS. 437 

In the assembly, A. Scott Sloan, the attorney-general, administered the 
oath of office, and after having subscribed to the same, the assembly proceeded 
to elect its officers, consisting of Frederick W. Ht)rn, speaker; Colonel R. M. 
Strong, chief clerk, and J. W. Bracket, sergeant-at-arms. 

On the 14th day of January, the governor met the legislature in joint con- 
vention, and delivered his second annual message. He again referred to the 
needetl reforms in laws pertaining to closing the polls ; to the corrupt use of 
money in elections; and to the canvassing of votes. He recoi.-miended the 
encouragement of independent military companies, antl called the attention of 
the legislature to the jn-opriety of passing some law for the protection of railroad 
employes. The public institutions, educational, charitable and penal, were 
well considered in this message. 

The most imi)ortant and exciting feature at this session of the legislature 
was the election of United States senator to fill the place of Honorable Matt 
Carpenter, whose term of office would expire March 4, 1876. On January 26th, 
both branches of the legislature proceeded to take a vote for senator. In the 
senate, Matt H. Carpenter, received thirteen votes ; John f51ack, sixteen votes; 
Orsamus Cole, three votes, and L. S. Dixon, one vote; in the assembly Matt 
H. Carpenter, received forty-six votes ; E. S. Bragg, thirty-five votes; C. C. 
Washburn, seven votes; Orsamus C'ole, three votes, and L. S. Dixon, four 
votes; lames T. Lewis, two votes; Horace Rublee and H. S. Orton, one vote 
each. On the 27th the two houses met in joint convention, and, upon the 
reading of the minutes by the chief clerk, l,ieutenant-(iovernor Parker declared 
that the balloting had not resulted in the election of any of the candidates. 
The two houses met daily and balloted for United States senator until the 3d 
day of January, when the twelfth ballot was taken, which resulted in Angus 
Cameron receiving sixty-eight votes. Matt H. Car])enter fifty-nine votes, and 
four scattering, whereupon the lieutenant-governor announced the election of 
Honorable Angus Cameron, as United States senator, for six years from March 
4, 1875. 

The cause of Mr. Carpenter's defeat is attributable to the fact that eigh- 
teen Republican members of the assembly were pledged to vote against the 
election of Mr. Carpenter, and refused to meet the Republican members in 
caucus to nominate. This disaffection and hostility to his re-election was 
based upon the action of Mr. Carjjenter in the United States senate, and his 
vote on the measures known as the Credit Mobiler and Back Pay bills. Mr. 
Carpenter Jiad received the nomination in the Republican caucus. The 
Democrats and Liberal Repul)licans not having the power to elect their own 
candidates, and being desirous of defeating Mr. Carjjenter, they united with 
the dissatisfied Rei)ublicans and elected Mr. Cameron. Angus Cameron 
received the solid Democratic vote, together with the votes of sixteen Repub- 



438 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

lican bolters. The Republican bolters were marshaled by C. C. Washburn, 
while James R. Doolittle was present, aiding and abettmg the Angus Cameron 
election. 

The year previous Mr. Carpenter, in a speech delivered at Ripon, on the 
" Power of Legislatures to Control Corporations of Their Own Creation," in 
his forcible and characteristic manner, sustained the constitutionality, necessity 
and sound public policy upon which the Potter railway law was based. 

Mr. Carpenter had dared openly to oppose the aggressions of corporate 
monopolies, and favored legislative control of railways, and must therefore be 
"turned down." Angus Cameron was at this time an attorney for the Chi- 
cago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway company. He practiced law at La 
Crosse and was an ardent Republican. It was the president of the Chicago, Mil- 
waukee and St. Paul Railway company that suggested the propriety of Mr. 
Cameron's election as a suitable successor of Mr. Carpenter. 

About the time of Mr. Carpenter's defeat by the coalition, Zack Chan- 
dler, in Michigan, and Alexander Ramsey, in Minnesota, were defeated in a 
similar manner, and for like reasons, while Honorable Charles A. Eldredge, 
" the great objector," from the fifth congressional district of Wisconsin, failed 
to be nommated. 

The unwise and injudiciousness of these mutinies were well established 
when General Ramsey became secretary of war, Zack Chandler elected to the 
United States senate, with increased confidence, and Matt H. Carpenter re- 
elected at the first opportunity, and, by the votes of some of the former 
bolters. 

On April 28, 1S75, the business portion of the prosperous city of Oshkosh 
was almost totally obliterated by fire. 

At the November election in 1875, the following state officers were elected : 
Harrison Ludington, governor; Charles D. Parker, lieutenant-governor; Peter 
Doyle, secretary of state; Ferdinand Keuhn, state treasurer; A. Scott Sloan, 
attorney-general, and Edward Searing, state superintendent of public in- 
struction . 




Ex-Governor Jeremiah M. Rusk. 



Chapter LIX. 
THE GREAT CONSPIRACY. 

Organization of Treasonable Orders. — Harrison H. Dodd, a Well-Known Citizen ot 
Wisconsin, the First Grand Commander of the Order of American Knights, and Grand Com- 
mander of the Sons of Liberty for Indiana. — Condensed History of the Orders. — Arrest, Con- 
viction and Sentence cf the Leaders, for Treason. 

The Knights of the Golden Circle, Order of American Knights, and Sons 
of Liberty, are entitled to recognition in our historical pages, on account of the 
numerous sympathizers with those bodies, within our borders, during those 
stormy days that marked the period from 1861 to 1865, and from the fact that 
the first grand commander of the Order of American Knights has been an 
honored citizen of Wisconsin for more than twenty years past, during which 
time he has been the mayor of the city of Fond du Lac, occupied numerous 
positions of public trust, is still an honored and respected citizen of that city, 
and is well-known throughout the state as the genial Commodore Harrison H. 
Dodd. 

The Knights of the Golden Circle were a fraternity organized in the 
South, prior to the war, and had members in Kentucky, Indiana and Illinois 
at the outbreak of the civil strife. Another society, known as the Circle of the 
Mighty Host, existed for a short period, some of its lodges being organized 
early in 1861. Then there were the Knights of the White Camellia, and in 
1863, the Circle of Honor. Next came that extensive order called the Ameri- 
can Knights, which had an armed organization throughout the state of 
Indiana, as well as in Ohio, Kentucky, Illinois and Missouri, with sympathiz- 
ers, aiders and abettors in most of the Northern states. This order having 
been exposed, its ritual was changed, and the order then merged into that ex- 
tremely insurrectory and treasonable order, known as the Sons of Liberty, 
which swallowed up all previous orders organized for treasonable purposes. 

From various reliable sources, the author has ascertained die origin of 
these societies. In 1855, one Charles C. Bickley, a native of Indiana, resid- 
ing in the South, an ardent advocate of the pro-slavery cause, for the purpose 
of more effectually establishing and organizing the Southern Rights Clubs, 
which existed in various parts of the slave states, drafted a constitution, by- 
laws and ritual, and established the order, which he christened Knights of the 
Golden Circle, and became its first commander. 

■J39 



440 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

The numerous divisions of the order were called "castles," and were 
divided into subordinate and state castles. The state castles were represented 
by delegates in the Grand American Legion, from which body emanated the 
celebrated articles of war, governing the subordinate castles, and requiring 
military drill. At first the order professed to foster elaborate schemes of con- 
quest. According to its constitution the annexation of Cuba, Mexico and 
Nicaragua, were among the numerous objects of its creation. While at first 
the organization was insignificant in numbers, yet some of the wealthiest and 
most influential men of the South belonged to it. 

The real object of this fraternity was the establishment of a slave empire, 
surrounding the Gulf of Mexico — the establishment of an empire which should 
rival the Roman Empire of the Old World, was the dream of those ambitious 
adventurers, which almost became realistic. " The North is vastly outgrowing 
us in territory and population. If we cannot get territory in the Union, we 
can out of it." This was the general sentiment in the South, and the people, 
with few exceptions, were in favor of the Southern Confederacy. 

In 1858, many features of the organization were changed. The "castle" 
was subdivided into the " outer " and " inner temples," while its members 
were only admitted, after sufticient probation to determine their political prin- 
ciples. Like many of its predecessors, the order now began to acquire great 
antiquity. Regaha were now provided, together with a close helmet, sur- 
mounted by a crescent, with fifteen stars, representing the growing " Confed- 
eracy." The skull and cross-bones were also worn as a reminder of the fate of 
traitors and spies within the order. There was also a temple consecrated to 
the " Sunny South," with the noon-day sun beneath its dome. Numerous 
castles now sprang up in the border states, while Northern sympathizers 
knocked loudly at their doors for admission. 

The fraternity was composed of three degrees : Military, financial and 
governmental. In the first degree, the members were called the Knights of the 
Iron Hand, and were informed that their first field of operation would be in 
Mexico, but that it was their duty to ofter their services to any Southern state to 
repel a Northern army. The financial, or second degree, members were known 
as the Knights of the True Faith, and, were to have their headquarters at 
Menterly, where stores and munitions of war could be stored. The third 
degree was composed only of those born in a slave state, while candidates 
admitted to a " castle " in a free state were required to be slaveholders. The 
members of this degree were called Knights of the Columbian Star. 

Among the obligations in the third degree, were the following: " I will 
use my best exertions to find out every abolitionist in my county, and forward 
the name of such to the commander-in-chief. If I know of any who is a 
stranger or traveler, I will inform the Knights of the Columbian Star in my 



THE GREAT CONSPIRACY. 441 

county, and call them to meet in council, that proper steps may be taken for 
his exposure. ... I will do all that I can to make a slave state of Mexico, 
and as such will urge its annexation to the United States. . . , Until the 
whole civil, political, financial and religious reconstruction of Mexico shall be 
completed, I will recognize a limited monarchy as the best form of government 
for the purpose, since it can be made strong and effective. To prevent the 
entrance of any abolitionist into Mexico, I will sustain a passport system." 

The knights took an active part in the presidential campaign of i860, 
using their efforts to divide the Democratic party, believing that the vote for 
Breckinridge would show the strength of Northern sympathizers, and deluded 
themselves with the belief that those who voted for Breckinridge could be relied 
upon for soldiers of the Southern army. 

When Lincoln was elected, the order sent secret agents into the free states 
to organize castles, believing that the deliverance of the South had come, but, 
after the fall of Fort Sumpter, they found their mission a dangerous one, con- 
sequently the order was princii)ally confined in its workings to the slave and 
bordering states. Members in the North and border states were to act as spies, 
and, when possible, to raise military companies to be turned over to the Con- 
federate service. A knight wrote from Madison, Indiana, to Jefferson Castle, 
in Kentucky, promising one thousand men " who would fight Northern 
aggressions to the death." A member of the order at Ev-ansville promised 
that Vanderburg county would be good for a regiment, while an ambitious 
knight wrote from Washington, Indiana, that there were thirty thousand men 
in that vicinity who would unite their fortunes with the South. Another 
ambitious Indianian, one Drongoole, of Martni county, Avrote to Jefferson 
Davis, declaring his ability to muster and furnish six regiments to the Con- 
federacy. Jefferson Davis, in his reply, commended his "noble and patriotic 
endeavors." This letter was intercepted and Drongoole, after being roughly 
handled, was sent South. 

Another great stronghold for the enemies of the Union was Washington 
and Orange counties, in the southern part of Indiana. A location well adapted 
by nature as the rendezvous for the wild and unsettled elements of those days — 
rough, half-mountainous regions, where the civilization is now a quarter of a 
century behindhand ; impregnable localities, neighborhoods where the roads 
were rough and almost impassable, and where to-day the local banditti seek 
refuge in caves and dark recesses of the forests — a locality now universally 
shunned by the wary traveler. 

Among these regions, the French Lick Springs gained much celebrity as 
being the home of Dr. W. A. Bowles, a man of wealth, who served as colonel 
of the Second Indiana Regiment in the M-exican war. Dr. Bowles had married 
a Southern woman, and was an active member of the Knights of the Golden 
Circle, while his house was a rendezvous for Southern sympathizers. 



442 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

On May 3d, he writes to his wife, who is then in the South: "If things do 
not change very soon we shall have fighting here in our midst, for many persons 
whom I supposed to be true to the South have been silenced, and are afraid to 
open their mouths in favor of Southern rights. Ayer, Charles Dill, and many 
others have come out for the North, and call all traitors who do not espouse the 
cause of the North. God knows what I am to do. If I leave and join 
the Southern array, my property will all be confiscated; and, besides that, my 
health is such that I fear I could render no service ; but I have already sent 
some who will do service, and I expect to send more." Later, he becomes 
discouraged about Kentucky, and writes: "Louisville is in a perfect tumult. 
The Abolition party is very strong, and I think the worst consequences are in 
store for Kentucky under her policy of armed neutrality, which I think is a 
humbug. It is reported that a battle has been fought at Fortress Monroe, and 
that six hundred abolitionists were killed, and fifty on the Southern side ; but 
I fear it is too good to be true. When the fighting commences, I think I shall 
go." 

Doctor Bowles' fear of the confiscation of his property kept him from 
going South. He stayed in Indiana, and, according to the testimony taken 
upon the treason trial, which convicted him and sentenced him to death, be- 
came one of the leading conspirators in that great center of secession. 

During the early part of the war, the defeat of the Northern armies acted 
as an impetus to the knights, and at these centers Southern sympathy became 
more outspoken. The Knights of the Golden Circle now spread their organi- 
zations throughout the South, and numerous meetings were held in out-of-the- 
way places — in woods, in deserted houses ; men attended with arms, and 
sentinels were posted to keep away intruders. 

According to the testimony taken in May, 1862, by a grand jury of the 
United States District Court, the Knights of the Golden Circle numbered some 
fifteen thousand. This estimate was made by members of the order who had 
recanted. The grand jury also ascertained that lodges were being instituted 
in different parts of the state ; that among the signs and signals of the order, 
was one invented for the benefit of such members as should be drafted into the 
army. It became the duty of the soldiers on the other side, upon seeing the 
signals of the order, to shoot over the heads of those giving the signals. Some 
of the members of the grand jury, having learned these signals, went to Camp 
Morton, at Indianapolis, where, among the Confederate prisoners, they soon 
found that their signals were received and answered. 

The Indiana state election, in the fall of 1862, resulted in the election of 
the whole Democratic ticket, with both houses of the legislature Democratic. 
An attempt was made in the legislature to investigate the different secret orders, 
which were thought to be of a treasonable character. After some discussion, 



THE GREAT CONSPIRACY. 443 

and many profuse excuses, by the majority, the proposition to investigate was 
finally laid upon the table by a party vote. While the legislature was still in 
session, Governor Morton received information "that the knights were armed, 
and talked of war at home ; that they declared that no deserters should be ar- 
rested; that abolitionists were to be exterminated, and that the Northwestern 
states would form a government by themselves." 

Governor Morton, on March 26, 1863, sent a telegram from Washington 
to General Henry B. Carrington, who had recently been appointed to the com- 
mand of the district of Indiana, informing him that large shipments of arms 
had been sent from New York to Indiana for insurrectory purposes. General 
Carrington immediately issued an order restricting the sale of arms, and pro- 
hibiting the importation of weapons for such organizations. 

On April 18, 1863, one of the leading knights in Brown county, Lewis 
Prosser, killed a soldier, and in return was himself mortally wounded. Gov- 
ernor Morton, now being satisfied that treason in its worst form was lurking in 
the state, appointed without law, authority or precedent, a commission to 
inquire into the facts. Witnesses testified "that their neighbors had been 
driven from home; houses had bean burned; the lives of Union men threat- 
ened; soldiers shot, and that bands of men had been seen drilling and passing 
through the country fully armed." The agency of the knights in these pro- 
ceedings was clearly shown. 

Throughout the state, especially in localities where dissatisfaction existed, 
every offense, misdemeanor and crime committed was attributed to the Knights 
of the Golden Circle, although many of these crimes and offenses were com- 
mitted by parties outside of the order. 

It was at this time, when numerous members of the fraternity came to 
Indianapolis, with the avowed intention of inciting insurrection. It was here 
that the absurd "battle" of " Pogue's Run" was fought — the battle where 
numerous members of the order threw their pistols and ammunition into the 
river, in order to avoid arrest by a handful of soldiers. 

The encouragement and inducements held out by these orders prompted 
the invasion of the state in July, 1863, by a large force under Gen. John L. 
Morgan, who crossed the river and advanced to Corydon, next to Salem, thence 
to Vernon. Morgan did not meet with the expected assistance, and, finding 
that he was being surrounded on every side by troops, crossed the state line 
into Ohio, and was shortly after captured, and sent to the Ohio penitentiary, 
from which he subsequently escaped. 

Senator Morton, in referring to this organization in the United States 
Senate, on May 4, 1876, said: 

" The state was honeycombed with secret societies, formerly known as the 
Knights of the Golden Circle, but later as Sons of Liberty. They claimed, in 



444 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

1864, to have forty thousand members in the state ; were lawless, defiant, plot- 
ting treason against the United States, and the overthrow of the state govern- 
ment. In some counties their operations were so formidable as to require the 
militia to be kept on a war footing; and throughout 1863, and until the final 
explosion of the organizations in August, 1864, they kept the whole state in an 
uproar and alarm. So bold were their demonstrations in the summer of 1863 
that General John Morgan, of Kentucky, was induced to invade the state with 
his forces, in the belief that there would be a general uprising in his support. 
In 1864, so numerous were these treasonable organizations, and so confident 
were they of their strength, that they matured a plan for a general uprising in 
the city of Indianapolis, on the i6th of August, under cover of a mass meeting 
of the Democratic party, to be attended by members from all parts of the state. 
The plan, as shown by subsequent confessions of some of the leading conspira- 
tors, was, on that day, to release about seven thousand rebel prisoners confined 
at Camp Morton, seize the arsenal and arm these prisoners, overturn the state 
government, and take possession of the state. It was discovered some three 
weeks before the time fixed, and was abandoned by the leading conspirators, 
and orders were issued countermanding the march of their forces upon Indian- 
apohs. Subsequently, the discovery and seizure of a large amount of arms and 
ammunition collected at Indianapolis for treasonable purposes, the seizure of 
the records and rituals of the order of the Sons of Liberty, giving the names of 
the principal conspirators, and the arrest of eight of the ringleaders had the 
effect to break up and destroy the power of the organization ; and I regret to 
have to state that in the list of the principal members of the organization were 
found three of the state ofiicers, in whose hands the legislature of 1863 had at- 
tempted to place the whole military power of the state." 

The Knights of the Golden Circle, as an order, for obvious reasons ceased 
to exist in the fall of 1863, but were generally merged into that more extensive 
order, the American Knights. 

The order of American Knights was established during the summer and 
fall of 1863. Its first grand commander for Indiana was Harrison H. Dodd, 
a book publisher, at Indianapolis. His natural abihty, gentlemanly appearance 
and personal magnetism, well qualified him as a powerful leader of a better 
cause. His political life began as a Know- Nothing. At an early age, he was 
one of the chief functionaries of the Sons of Malta, and, it is said, that the ini- 
tiations into that fraternity, as conducted by him, were "most impressive." 
Mr. Dodd's talents are well-displayed in the following extracts from his instruc- 
tions to the novice : 

''In the economy of the intellectual world, there are some degrees of ca- 
pacity, which arise mamly from physical development; which result from, and 
are adapted to the peculiar influences of material nature which surround the 



THE GREAT CONSPIRACY 



445 



man. The superior, intellectual and physical development must progress, nor 
must not be impeded, but aided by the inferior and imperfect, even should the 
subjection of the inferior to a condition of servitude to the superior be necessary 
to secure such aid; that servitude, however, being so qualified and regulated 
by enlightened sentiments and wise and humane laws, that while it aids the 
progress of the superior, it shall at the same time advance the inferior, by sub- 
duing and refining influences, toward complete civilization. Hence the servi- 
tude of the African to the white man, imposed and regulated by wise and 
humane statutes, and by suggestions of refined public sentiment, should promote 
the advancement of both races, and is improved by the sanction of divine 
economy." 

Mr. Dodd's logical demonstration of constitutional law, leads us to be- 
lieve that he missed his natural vocation in life. Continuing his lecture, he says : 

" Whenever the chosen rulers, ofticers, or delegates to whom the people 
have entrusted the power of the government shall foil or refuse to administer 
the government in strict accordance with the letter of the established and ac- 
cepted compact, constitution, or ordinance, it is the inherent right and the 
solemn and imperative duty of the people to resist the usurpations of their 
functionaries, and, if need be, to expel them by force of arms. Such resist- 
ance is not revolution, but is solely the assertion of a right, the exercise of all 
the noble attributes which impart honor and dignity to manhood. Submission 
to power or authority usurped is unmitigated debasement in an entire people ; 
and the debasement is increased in degree according to the degree of progress 
which a people shall have attained before the usurpation began, and shall 
enlarge its measure of shame while the submission continues." 

The following is a part of the candidate's obligation : 

"I do further solemnly promise that I will ever cherish in my heart of 
hearts the sublime creed of the Excellent Knights, as explained to me in this 
presence; that I will inculcate the same amongst the brotherhood, will, so far 
as in me lies, illustrate the same in my intercourse with men, and will defend 
the principles thereof, if need be, with my life, whensoever assailed — in my 
own country first of all. I do further promise that my sword shall ever be 
drawn in defense of the right, in behalf of the weak against the strong, where- 
ever truth and justice shall be found on the side of the weak, and especially in 
behalf of the oppressed against the oppressor. I do further solemnly declare 
that I will never take up armsinbehalf of any monarch, prince, potentate, power 
or government which does not acknowledge the sole authority of power to be 
the will of the governed expressly and distinctly declared, saving, however, a 
single instance, where a government shall exert its highest power and authority 
in raising a people from a condition of barbarism or anarchy to a degree of 



446 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

civilization and enlightenment until they shall be equal to the noble work of 
constructing a government of their own free choice, founded upon the princi- 
ples of eternal truth. 

" I do further solemnly declare and swear, in the presence of these Excel- 
lent Knights, my witnesses, that I now plight each and every of these my 
solemn vows, without reservation or evasion of mind whatsover, and with full 
knowledge and understanding, and with my full assent, that the penalty declared 
against any violation of any or either of these, my vows and promises, tvill be a 
stir render of my body to the tribunal of the Order of American Knights, to be 
hurtled and its ashes strewn upon the witids, if it shall be so adjudged, and my 
sivord and the emblems and jewels with which I have been adorned in honor 
shall be forged into one mass atid thrown into the sea, atid my Jiame shall become 
a by-word amongst the brotherhood, to be pronounced only with anathetna and 
scorn. Divine Presence, approve my troth, and ye, Excellent Knights, hear 
and witness my plighted vows! Amen." 

The lecture given to the candidate in the third degree is as follows : 

"In the Divine economy, no individual of the human race must be permitted 
to encumber the earth, to mar its aspects of transcendent beauty, nor to impede 
the progress of the intellectual or physical man, neither in himself nor in the race 
to which he belongs. Hence, a people, upon whatever plane they may be 
found in the ascending scale of humanity, whom neither the divinity within 
them, nor the inspirations of divine and beautiful nature around them, can im- 
pel to virtuous action and progress onward and upward, should be subjected to 
a just and humane servitude, a strict tutelage to the superior and energetic 
development, until they shall be able to appreciate the benefits and advan- 
tages of civilization. . . . 

"The Caucasian or white race exhibits the most perfect and complete de- 
velopment of humanity. Hence, the noblest eftbrts of that race should be 
directed to the holy and sublime work of subduing, civilizing, refining and 
elevating the wild and savage races wheresoever found; nor should those 
efforts cease until the broad earth shall bloom again like Eden, and the people 
thereof shall be fitted to hail the dawning light of that millennium which the 
inspiration of that divinity within us has pictured to our hopes, and whose 
transcendent glories are even now glowing upon the vision of calm, serene, 
undoubting faith." 

The obligation in this degree contains the following : 

<T do further solemnly promise and swear that I will ever cherish the 
sublime lessons which the sacred emblems of our order suggest, and will, so far 
as in me lies, impart those lessons to the people of the earth, where the mystic 
acorn falls from its parent bough, in whose visible firmament Orion, Arcturus, 
and the Pleiades ride in their cold, resplendent glories, and where the Southern 



THE GREAT CONSPIRACY. 447 

Cross dazzles the eye of degraded humanity with its coruscations of golden 
light, fit emblem of truth, while it invites our sacred order to consecrate her 
temples in the four corners of the earth, where moral darkness reigns and des- 
potism holds sway Divine Essence, so help me that I fail not in my 

troth, lest I shall be summoned before the tribunal of the order, adjudged, and 
condemned to certain and shameful death, while my name shall be recorded 
on the roll of infamy ! Amen." 

The existence of the American Knights was both brief and barren, as the 
knights soon ascertained that the priceless secrets of the order had been dis- 
covered by the government ; so the Sons of Liberty were organized from among 
the members of the American Knights; thus the knights ceased to exist under 
that name. The new order was organized on February 22, 1864, with C. L. 
Vallandigham as supreme grand commander of the United States. 

The order now known as the Sons of Liberty, was in reality a continua- 
tion of the order of American Knights, but with the rules, by-laws and ritual 
changed, while its objects were more clearly defined. It soon had an exten- 
sive membership in Ohio, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri and Indiana. Vallan- 
digham, during the summer of 1864, claimed that its membership in Indiana 
alone was not less than forty thousand. According to the testimony of the grand 
secretary of the order, the reports from forty-five counties, in September, 1864, 
showed a membership of only eighteen thousand. Harrison H. Dodd was grand 
commander for the state of Indiana, and Dr. W. A. Bowles, L. P. Milligan, An- 
drew Humphreys and one Yeakle, were "major-generals," commanding the four 
districts into which the state had been sub-divided for military purposes. John C. 
Walker was elected in Yeakle's place in June, and Horace Heffren was elected 
deputy grand commander. Judge Bullitt, of the Kentucky Court of Appeals, 
was elected grand commander for the state of Kentucky, and Felix Stidger, 
one of Morton's detectives, was elected grand secretary for Kentucky. 

The organization was unwieldy and inefficient, and was composed of too 
many men like Dr. Bowles, who talked loudly, but failed to furnish the prom- 
ised regiments when the time came to act, indiscreet men, like Wm. P. Green, 
and less men of courage and determination, like Harrison H. Dodd, Horace 
Heffren, Judge Bullitt and C. L. Vallandigham. During the summer of 1864, 
Deputy Grand Commander Heffren sent Wm. P. Green as his proxy, to at- 
tend a meeting of the Grand Council at Chicago, where he fell into the hands of 
detectives who secured his credentials, and the unfortunate delegate was not 
admitted to the conclave. 

In May this year. Dr. Bowles had indiscreetly talked confidentially with 
Stidger, in relation to the secrets of the order, without first testing him as to 
whether or not he was a member. The leaders of the order now ascertained 
that the sanctuary of the order had been invaded by spies, and its cherished 



448 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

secrets exposed. They ascertained that one Coffin, a detective and agent for 
Governor Morton, had been in the confidence of some of the oilficers of the 
order, and consequently determined that his "removal" would be for the best 
interests of the order. 

According to testimony taken before the commission, subsequently ap- 
pointed by the president, to try the conspirators for treason, the following 
facts came to light : At a meeting of the State Council of the Sons of Liberty, 
held at Indianapolis on June 14, 1864, it was decided that Governor Morton's 
agent, Coffin, should be killed. On the following day Vallandigham was to 
address a meeting at Dayton, Ohio. It had been ascertained that Coffin 
would be present, and it was thought that the time was opportune for his "re- 
moval." Commander Dodd asked what members would volunteer to go with 
him, and put Coffin out of the way. Several of the leaders now found that 
on the morrow other matters of vast importance would keep them from ac- 
companying their commander on this trifling mission, consequently Com- 
mander Dodd and Dr. Bowles went to Dayton, Ohio, but were unable to find 
Coffin as he had been warned of his danger by Detective Stidger, who had 
been present at the council held at Indianapolis on June 14th. 

From the testimony adduced upon the celebrated treason trials, the well- 
founded conclusion is, that one of the principal objects of organization of the 
Sons of Liberty was the destruction of government property, and that the 
conspirat(;rs co-operated with the Confederate authorities for the purpose of 
seizing the Federal arsenals, releasing Confederate prisoners, and overthrowing 
the national government with the ultimate view of the organization of a North- 
western Confederation. 

Thomas Bocking, of Cincinnati, invented an infernal substance called 
"green fire." This condensed element of Hades he showed to members of 
the order, and received two hundred dollars from them for his immediate 
necessities. "Nothing can put J it out," said Dr. Bowles, referring to the 
"green fire. " The trio, Messrs. Dodd, Bullitt and Bowles, with a few select 
associates, spent one Sunday in Indianapolis experimenting with the "green 
fire" invention. A hand grenade, operated with a clock, was another of the 
interesting objects of destruction examined by this select committee and their 
associates. 

After the fall of Vicksburg, in 1864, the abandonment of Tennessee by 
the Confederate armies, the occupancy of large portions of the South by Fed- 
eral troops, and the stubborn and determined Grant rapidly closing around 
the Confederate capital, the last remaining hope was centered in a peace com- 
mission, and in the faint hope that their Northern friends and sympathizers 
would liberate the Confederate prisoners and create an uprising of such magni- 
tude that the Federal forces would turn back and protect their own territory. 



THE GREAT CONSPIRACY. 449 

With these faint gleams of hope, Jefiferson Davis appointed three commissioners, 
Jacob Thompson, C. C. Clay and J. P. Holcombe, to visit Canada, and nego- 
tiate with influential and reliable persons "to aid in the attainment of peace." 

Commissioner Thompson had been instructed that, in the event of his 
fiiilure to effect peace, he should adopt measures which would tend to cripple 
the Federal government, by the destruction of its stores and supplies. The Con- 
federate government had left to his .sound discretion the manner of effecting 
" any fair and appropriate enterprise of war, consistent with British neutrality." 
British sympathy had prompted the appointment of this select committee, as 
well as the appointment of a special envoy. Jefferson Davis also sent Captain 
Hines as a special envoy to Canada, for the purpose of collecting Confederate 
soldiers, with the view of co-operating with the Sons of Liberty in the release 
of Confederate prisoners, who were confined at different places in the North. 

Mr. Thompson arrived in Montreal on May 30, 1864, and endeavored to 
induce the influential newspapers to advocate a cessation of hostilities by the 
Federal armies ; but the leading members of the press in Canada were adverse 
to Mr. Thompson's plan, and nothing could be done there. The persevering, 
but unsuccessful, chairman of Jefferson Davis' select committee, then opened 
negotiations with Horace Greeley, but with no better success. The astute and 
persistent envoy of the almost hopeless cause then conferred with the vision- 
ary Vallandigham, who represented that the Sons of Liberty were three hun- 
dred thousand strong, and that the order desired that the war should cease, 
and the Federal armies be withdrawn from Southern soil. Some of the lead- 
ers of the order, as well as their Northern sympathizers, desired to establish a 
Northwestern Confederacy, while the influential minority were opposed to the 
plan. While Mr. Thompson was at heart opposed to the plan of a separate 
Confederacy, he encouraged the idea, for the purpose of furthering his plans, 
and offered to furnish money and arms, to be used in more effectually organ- 
izing the different counties, with the view of releasing the Confederate prison- 
• ers confined in the North. 

The time first fixed by the Sons of Liberty for a general uprising was July 
20, 1864, but on account of ineffectual organization and discipline, the event 
was postponed to August i6th. In the intermediate. Commander Dodd had 
met Commissioner Thompson at the Clifton House at Niagara, and arranged 
for the coming outbreak. Mr. Dodd was to send couriers to the major-gen- 
erals of the various districts, who were to notify the county organizations, and 
they the townships. Southern Indiana was to be placed under the command 
of Dr. Bowles, with New Albany as their place of meeting. The Illinois 
knights were to be placed under the management of various leaders, with their 
rendezvous at Rock Island, Springfield and Chicago. The Indiana forces were 
to be concentrated at Indianapolis. The outbreak was to be a general one, and 



4SO HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

to be simultaneous at the various designated points. Vallandigham was to 
have charge of Ohio, while Commander Dodd was to capture the Indiana state 
capital. The plan was to call a political meeting at Indianapolis. The mem- 
bei's of the order were to come in wagons, with their fire arms secreted in the 
straw, and when a certain signal was given, they were to seize their arms and 
march on Camp Morton. The Confederate prisoners were to be Hberated and 
armed, and the railroad seized and used to transport prisoners and munitions of 
war. The arsenals at Rock Island, Springfield and Chicago were to be seized. 
The prisoners at Camp Douglas liberated and armed, then they were to march 
on to St. Louis. At a meeting previously held at Chicago, the statement was 
made that a United States paymaster, on the Red river, had been captured, 
and that the money could be used to further the ends of the knights. 

Commander Dodd now returned to Indianapolis, and communicated the 
plot in detail to his trusted lieutenants. He suggested that the Democratic 
.state committee, through its chairman, J. J. Bingham, should call amass meet- 
ing, to be held at Indianapolis on August i6th. Michael C. Kerr, a leading 
Democrat from New Albany, called upon Mr. Bingham, and related to him 
the whole plot for the uprising. The conspiracy, with all its details, was now 
brought to the notice of Hon. Joseph E. McDonald, the Democratic candidate 
for governor, who emphatically declared that the matter must be stopped. Dr. 
Athen, the secretary of state for Indiana, was also involved in the conspiracy. 
Governor Morton was to be captured, and Athen made provisional governor. 
Chairman Bingham and Michael C. Kerr called upon Secretary Athen for an 
explanation, but the wily gentleman declared that he knew nothing of the matter. 
A conference of prominent Democrats and knights was now held, in the 
office of Hon. Joseph E. McDonald. These Democrats were strongly opposed 
to the revolutionaty scheme, while Michael C. Kerr said that he came up from 
New Albany to stop the conspiracy, " and that if it could not be stopped in 
any other way the authorities should be informed of it." Commander Dodd, 
Avho was present, declared " the government could not be restored without 
revolution." It was agreed, however, at the conference, that the conspiracy 
would go no further, but that the authorities were not to be informed of it. 

It was on July 22d, that the Confederate commissioners, Messrs. Thomp- 
son, Clay and Holcombe, with Captain Hines, and one Castleman, as special 
envoys, met the representatives of the Sons of Liberty, at Montreal, Canada, 
and fixed the time for the uprising for August i6th. The order feared 
that the military authorities would suppress the movement, unless the 
Confederacy would send troops into Kentucky and Missouri, as a feint, to oc- 
cupy the attention of the soldiers. On August 7th, another conference was 
held, and the date of the uprising postponed until August 29th, at which time 
the Democratic national convention would assemble at Chicago. The Con- 



THE GREAT CONSPIRACY. 451 

federate agents stoutly affirmed that this postponement would be the last. 
They averred that they had abundant means, and would bring men to Chicago, 
to release the Confederate prisoners confined in that city as well as at Indian- 
apolis and Rock Island. The commissioners stoutly insisted that they would 
carry out these plans, whether the Sons of Liberty acted with them or not. 

The leaders of the Sons of Liberty were to bring their members, or their select 
mebmers, to Chicago to attend the convention. Large sums of money had 
been furnished by the Confederates, but many of the distributing agents pock- 
■eted the funds, consequently few men came. The great central force of the 
Sons of Liberty in Indiana, having been previously suppressed in Joseph E. 
McDonald's office, did not appear. Numerous ambitious Confederates came 
to Chicago, with the firm belief that with slight co-operation on the part of the 
Sons of Liberty and their sympathizers, they could successfully attack Camp 
Douglas, release the five thousand prisoners there confined, and arm them, as 
arms had already been provided for. The seven thousand prisoners at Spring- 
field were also to be liberated and armed. These small armies were to be re- 
inforced by the Sons of Liberty, which would make a formidable army in the 
heart of the North. This coup de main, it was thought, would strengthen 
Northern sympathy, and reverse the fortunes of the Confederacy, or at least 
bring about peace, in accordance with Southern ideas. 

The prisoners at Camp Douglas and elsewhere, had received notice of the 
intention to release them. Captain Hines and Castleman, the special agents 
of the Confederacy, met the officers of the Sons of Liberty at Chicago, on 
August 28th, the night before the Democratic national convention. The city 
was filled to overflowing, and the time well selected for such a movement, but 
the members of the order, who had been charged to bring the members to- 
gether, failed. On the following day, Hines and Castleman proposed that the 
Sons of Liberty furnish five hundred men to liberate the prisoners at Rock 
Island and Springfield, but the leaders of the order were timid and returned 
home. Thus the most important feature of the whole great conspiracy failed, 
through the cowardice of its leaders. 

Governor Morton and General Carrington, who had kept themselves 
thoroughly posted, as to the whole inside workings of the order, now thought 
the time ripe to make an example of the leading conspirators. On August i, 
1864, the ritual of the Sons of Liberty was captured in a law office in Terre 
Haute, by a provost-marshal. Governor Morton had been advised that arms 
and ammunition had been forwarded to Grand Commander Dodd, by the 
Merchants' Dispatch, marked "Sunday School Books." Upon searching 
Dodd's office, there were found four hundred navy revolvers and one hundred 
and thirty-five thousand rounds of ammunition. The office of Grand Com- 
mander Dodd was overhauled on August 2 2d, " and the secrets of the order 



452 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

held up to the scorn and ridicule of the public." Among the rubbish were 
found copies of the lectures, obHgations and oaths, in the various degrees. 
The lecture to the candidate in the third degree of that great farce, is in part 
as follows : 

"Son of Liberty, thy journey is well-nigh accomplished. Somewhat yet 
remains, and the sons of despotism will beset thy path and aim to turn thee 
back, peradventure will seek thy Ufe. Then put thy trust in God and Truth. 
Still, the journey leadeth due East, until thou art held by the Guardian in the 
South, who will further instruct thee. Beware lest thou bear thee towards the 
North too far and lose thy way; as well, also, take heed lest the South entice 
thee too far thither. We have a trusted, faithful guide on either side thy way, 
who, true and constant to his behest, perchance may hail thee. Receive what 
he shall offer, and give earnest heed to all his words. Son of Liberty, be thy 
watchword, Onward." 

Harrison H. Dodd, the grand commander of the Sons of Liberty, in In- 
diana, had been arrested. General Carrington, who had been very active in 
collecting testimony against him, as well as the rest of the leading conspirators, 
was in favor of trying them in the Federal Courts, but Secretary Stanton and 
Governor Morton, desiring to terrorize all orders of a revolutionary and trea- 
sonable character, thought it more expedient to try them by court-martial. 

General Alvin P. Hovey, being in accord with Secretary Stanton and 
Governor Morton, took charge of the department of Indiana, in place of Gen- 
eral Carrington, whose good judgment in the matter was subsequently sus- 
tained by the Supreme Court of the United States. General Hovey now insti- 
tuted a military tribunal for the trial of Harrison H. Dodd, the grand com- 
mander of the Sons of Liberty for Indiana. 

Shortly after the arrest of Commander Dodd, he petitioned General Hovey 
to allow him the privilege of occupying a room in the post-office building, instead 
of being confined in the mihtary prison. The petition was granted, and Mr. 
Dodd occupied quarters over the post-office, although under the surveillance 
of the military authorities. The court-martial or military tribunal was insti- 
tuted by General Hovey, and was based upon the proclamation issued by Presi- 
dent Lincoln, in September, 1862, which provided for the trial of the insurgents, 
their aiders and abettors by military tribunals. 

The court-martial trial of Grand Commander Dodd, which put a lasting 
quietus on ambitious, treason-loving members of the order, was begun at 
Indianapolis, on September 22, 1864. The charges entered against the noted 
prisoners were, (i) conspiracy against the government in the organization of 
secret societies for the purpose of overthrowing the government; (2) con- 
spiracy and treason in undertaking to seize the United States arsenal ; (3) 
organizing societies for the purpose of inciting insurrection, releasing Confed- 



THE GREAT CONSPIRACY. 453 

erate prisoners, and resisting the Federal drafts. The great abiUty of the 
accused manifested itself early in the proceedings, upon his objection to the 
jurisdiction of the court, based upon the ground that he was a private citizen of 
Indiana, and in no manner connected with the army. Judge-Advocate Bur- 
nett argued in favor of the jurisdiction of the tribunal, and an order was 
promptly entered, overruling the motion to dismiss. 

The surprise, astonishment and disgust of the accused can be imagined, 
but not realized, when Felix G. Stidger, a confidant of Mr. Dodd, and one of 
the most active officers of the Sons of Liberty, took the stand as the first wit- 
ness in behalf of the government. Stidger had all along been acting in the dual 
capacity of an enthusiastic member of the order and the confidential agent 
and detective of General Morton and the Federal government. This most in- 
teresting trial was in progress from September 2 2d until the afternoon of Octo- 
ber 6th, at which time the proceedings were adjourned until the following 
morning, but when the morning dawned it was found that Mr. Dodd had 
adopted the West Virginia motto, "Montani semper liberi." His escape was 
effected at an early hour on the morning of the 7th, by means of a rope, which 
one of his children had smuggled into his room. The street lamps had been 
darkened in the vicinity of the post-ofifice building by his friends, consequently 
his flight was unperceived. In the absence of the prisoner, the question of 
jurisdiction was argued, and the case submitted to the court for its determina- 
tion, but its decision was not entered, owing to the absence of the prisoner, 
although it was generally believed that the court had found the great leader 
guilty and sentenced him to death. 

The pent-up wrath and righteous indignation of the authorities was now- 
directed against Dodd's associates. Heffren, Bowles, Milligan, Horsey and 
Humphreys were arrested, upon warrants containing the same charges as those 
preferred against Grand Commander Dodd. The newly constituted court 
convened on October ist. The evidence against both Milligan and Bowles 
was clear and con\incing, w'hile the evidence against Horsey and Humphreys 
was not so strong. The principal witnesses were Stidger, the detective; Hef- 
fren, the deputy grand commander ; one Clayton, a member of the order; 
Harrison, the grand secretary of the order for Indiana, and Editor Bingham, 
of the Indiana Sentinel, and a member of the order, each unduly anxious 
to convict a brother, provided his own chances to escape were strengthened. 
The traitorous Heffren, the deputy grand commander for Indiana, was the 
first witness to take the stand against his associates. The case against this 
treason-dyed traitor and perjurer had, upon the opening of the trial, been dis- 
continued, upon motion of the judge-advocate. 

Jonathan W. Gordon made a forcible and exhaustive argument against the 
jurisdiction of the court, while his associate, Mr. Ray, ably discussed the facts. 



454 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

The court rendered a verdict of guilty against each of the defendants. Bowles, 
MiUigan and Horsey were sentenced to be hanged. Humphreys received a 
life sentence, which was moderated to confinement within the bordets of two 
townships in his own county. Several representatives of the condemned men 
came to Washington and visited the humane and kind-hearted Lincoln, who 
promised to spare the lives of the prisoners, but that good, wise and great man 
was assassinated before he could accomplish it. 

After the death of President Lincoln, Andrew Johnson approved the sent- 
ences against the conspirators, and refused all petitions and requests to mitigate 
them. The defendants Milligan, Bowles and Horsey were sentenced to be 
hanged on the 19th of May. The question of the jurisdiction of the trial- 
court had been brought up in the United States Circuit Court, upon applica- 
tion for a writ of habeas corpus, but the court was divided in its opinion as tO' 
the jurisdiction of the commission. 

Judge David Davis, being of the opinion that the conspirators had not 
been legally tried, as martial law had not been declared in Indiana, and the 
courts still open, now visited Governor Morton, at Indianapolis, and con- 
vinced that astute gentleman of the tenability of his position. Governor Mor- 
ton now interceded in behalf of the condemned men. He sent communica- 
tions to President Johnson, recommending that the sentences be commuted. 
On May i8th, Governor Morton sent General Mansfield as special envoy tO' 
President Johnson, in behalf of the prisoners, and, about the same time Mrs. 
MiUigan, the wife of one of the condemned, was sent on the same errand. As 
a last and final resort, the irrepressible John U. Pettit was dispatched to Wash- 
ington, and, through his exertions, the death sentences were at first suspended,, 
then commuted to imprisonment for life. 

The humane act of President Johnson and Governor Morton created 
great indignation throughout the country, more especially in Indiana. " The 
gallows has been cheated," they declared, and strongly intimated that the lives 
of the condemned were saved by the use of money. After considerable delay, 
the application for a writ of habeas corpus was finally decided by the Supreme 
Court of the United States in favor of the defendants. The court held that the 
commission or trial court had no jurisdiction, as Indiana had not seceded, was 
not in a state of war, nor had martial law been proclaimed in that state. The 
three prisoners, Bowles, Milligan and Horsey, were now discharged. Hum- 
phreys had previously been pardoned by Andrew Johnson. 

Grand Commander Dodd, and other members of the Sons of Liberty, like 
their Southern friends, Longstreet, Mosby and others, not many years after 
the war, were taken into the RepubUcan fold, and became enthusiastic mem- 
bers of that party. 



THE GREAT CONSPIRACY. 



455 



Nearly thirty years have passed and gone, since those gloomy days, when 
the nation's fate was wavering and uncertain. Dark, stormy days, when 
brother fought against brother, and father against son. Those fleeting, inter- 
vening years, have forever obliterated disloyalty, softened great afflictions, deep 
sorrows, and entwined with bonds of friendship and love the people of this great 
nation, under one government, under one flag. 



^1 



©ijllirs 



mm 



0' 




Pelican Lake, on the Line of the M., L. S. & W. R'y, 



f r: 



Chapter LX. 
FOURIERISM AND MORMOXISM IN WISCONSIN. 

Picturesque Ripon, the Seat of Fourierism. — The Wisconsin Phalanx. — The Phalanx 
Deploys and Stacks Arms after Seven Years. 

Social Leprosity in Wisconsin. — James J. Strang Plants the " Stake of Zion" in Racine 
County. — The Impostor Forges Documents Which He Translates in the Style of Holy Writ. 
— Established a Kingdom on Beaver Island. — Conspiracy. — Assassination of King Strang. — 
The Island City Obliterated by the Fisliermen. 

One beautiful May morning in 1844, in the picturesque valley where now 
nestles the handsome and prosperous city of Ripon, was seen slowly wending 
its way, a caravan of horses, cattle and oxen, with carts loaded with furniture, 
utensils and farming implements, and accompanied by about one hundred 
enthusiastic followers of Fourierism. 

Horace Greeley, who, through the New York Tribune, had sown the seeds 
of that mild " ism " in the fertile soil of Southport (now Kenosha) early in the 
40's, was now, for the first time, about to see it germinate and decay. 

The enthusiastic followers were now about to practically test the princi- 
ples of " equitable " distribution, and " guard against our present social evil." 
A stock company, bearing the impregnable title of the *' Wisconsin Phalanx," 
was organized, with shares of $25.00 each, which were readily sold. 

The " Phalanx" located at Ceresco, one of the suburbs of the present 
city of Ripon. The next year after their arrival, they moved into more 
spacious quarters, which was a building 400 feet long, consisting of two rows 
of tenements, with a hall between. They all lived under one roof and ate at 
the same table, but each family lived in their own apartments. The " Pha- 
lanx," upon their arrival, purchased a fine tract of land, built shops, and made 
various improvements, and, in fine, were a thriving, industrious people, under 
one roof. Labor was voluntary, and each received credit according to his 
merit, and at the end of the year profits were thus divided. Social meetings 
were held evenings. Tuesday evening was given to the literary and debating 
club, Wednesday to singing, and Thursday to dancing. Ambition, the grand- 
est and and most ennobling quality of mankind, was destined to kill this tender 
stem of Fourierism, hardly ere it germinated. The close of the Black Hawk 
war, in 1832, placed the great seal upon the Winnebago and other Indian 
wars, and opened up for setdement the balance of the Northwest territory. 
At this time, 1844-51, the whole country was rapidly being settled. Glorious 

437 



458 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

opportunities were alike opened to the middle-aged and experienced, as well as 
to the young and ambitious. The " Wisconsin Phalanx " stood firm for seven 
years, then deployed and stacked arms. The members, of one accord, were 
glad to get back into society, and again drift with fortune's tide. 
* # * 

The pure air and virgin soil of Wisconsin were once polluted by that social 
leprosy — Mormonism. 

Down at Nauvoo, on the banks of the Mississippi, a large and prosperous 
settlement of fanatical polygamists had grown up, under the guidance of 
Joseph Smith, who were known as the " Latter Day Saints." At Burling- 
ton, a quaint little village in Racine county, lived an erratic and cultiva- 
ted lawyer, named James J. Strang. He was born in Cayuga county, New 
York, in 1813, and entered life as a farmer boy. He was endowed with an act- 
ive and retentive memory, and in early manhood, cultivated a keen desire for 
notoriety. He taught school, delivered temperance lectures, was a political 
worker, and edited a country newspaper. 

In 1843, he drifted to Wisconsin, bringing with him a reputation for a 
wonderful "gift of gab," and an overwhelming amount of self-esteem. At 
this time the Mormon church was meeting with grand success in their new 
fields, which offered distinction to men of the Smith-Strang type. He visited 
Joseph Smith at Nauvoo, in January, 1844. In February, he was baptized; a 
month later he became a Mormon elder, and was at once received as a valu- 
able acquisition to the Mormon church. Wisconsin was then assigned to his 
charge. Joseph and Hiram Smith were shot by a mob on June 27, 1844,* while 
in prison at Nauvoo. This occurrence gave Strang's abilities a chance to 
expand. 

Strang, although a convert of but a few months' standing, immediately 
became a candidate for the succession of Joseph Smith. He prepared and dis- 
played documents purporting to be written by Joseph Smith, before the "mar- 
tyrdom," authorizing Strang to establish a branch of the Mormon church on 

* During the fall and early winter of 1838, about fifteen thousand Mormon saints, 
headed by Joseph Smith, the founder of the Latter Day Saints, left Missouri and took refuge 
in Illinois, in the vicinity of Commerce, which name was afterwards changed and called 
Nauvoo. The country at this time was a wilderness, but under the thrifty management of 
the Mormons, it soon began "to rejoice and blossom" as the rose. 

The legislature of Illinois granted a charter to Nauvoo; a body of Mormon militia were 
organized, under the name of the Nauvoo Legion, with Joseph Smith as its commander; he 
was also appointed mayor of the city, and thus became supreme in all civil and niilitary 
affairs. A little later on, the doctrine of "sealing wives" roused the wrath of the neighbor- 
hood, which resulted in the arrest of the "prophet" and his brother Hiram, who were thrown 
into prison at Carthage. It now began to be rumored that the governor of the state was in 
sympathy with them, and was desirous of allowing the two Smiths to escape, whereupon a 
band of roughs, numbering about two hundred, broke into the jail on June 27, 1844, and 
shot them to death. Many years after the death of Joseph Smith, Brigham Young produced 
a paper, which he said was a copy of a revelation made to Joseph at Nauvoo, commanding 
him to take as many wives as God should give him. It was not, however, until August 29, 
1852, at a public meeting held at Salt Lake City, that the revelation was formally received. 



FOURIERISM AND MORMONISM IN WISCONSIN. 459 

White river, near his home in Burhngton. The specified district for establish- 
ing the church covered territory in both Racine and Walworth counties. 

The "twelve apostles" of the Church of Nauvoo declared Strang an im- 
postor and his documents forgeries, and drove him from the Illinois paradise. 
He then returned to Wisconsin, and established himself on the White river, at 
a point which he named Voree, from which holy spot he issued a pronuncia- 
mento, in which he declared Joseph Smith had appointed him as his successor, 
as president of the church. "He claimed that he had visions, wherein the 
angel of the Lord advised him that Nauvoo had been 'cut off,' and that Voree 
was now the City of Promise."* Early in April, 1845, adherents began to ar- 
rive at the City of Promise. In January he started a diminutive four- paged 
paper, called the Voree Herald, wherein he published his visions, and called 
on the saints to rally around his standard, while the Brighamites at Nauvoo 
were called unrefined names. Strang soon gathered around him at Voree a 
large number of ardent followers, besides conducting missions among the 
"Primitive Mormons" in Ohio, New York, and the eastern and central states. 
Strang, hke his predecessor, Joseph Smith, pretended to discover the word of 
God in hidden records. Joseph unearthed a book of Mormon, in the Ontar- 
ian hills — Strang dug up curious blazen plates at Voree, which an angel en- 
abled him to translate, and thus through the Herald, these wonderful records, 
phrased in the style of Holy Writ, were published to the world. 

According to the Voree Herald, of September, 1846, President Strang's 
Sunday gatherings at Voree consisted of from one to two thousand people, of 
which he was the grand dictator. Voree finally became so prosperous that in 
May, 1847, Strang established a branch " Stake of Zion " on Beaver Island, in 
the Archipelago, near the mouth of Lake Michigan. He was met with great 
opposition from the resident fishermen, who looked upon the Mormon invasion 
with great disfavor ; but the new branch grew in the face of all obstacles, and 
in two or three years' time, there were about two thousand devotees gathered 
on Beaver Island. 

They built neat houses, made good roads and docks, built a saw-mill and 
a large tabernacle. Prior to 1850, the island city was dubbed Saint James, 
and the colony organized as a " Kingdom," having a " Royal Press," foreign 
ambassadors, together with all the paraphernalia which goes to make up an 
infant empire. 

Polygamy was now for the first time established, and under the newly-es- 
tablished doctrines. King James (Strang), was allowed five wives. The Royal 
Press issued a daily paper called the Northern Islander, which was the official 
court organ. The women wore bloomer costumes, and were rude, coarse, 

* The Story of Wisconsin, 125. 



46o HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

sensual creatures, while the men were rough and illiterate. The gentile fisher- 
men hated King Strang with all the bitterness which their independent and 
untamed natures possessed, and were continually at warfare with the people of 
Island City. For many years prior to 185 1, Strang's success had exceeded his 
own anticipations, but now, for the first time, dark and threatening clouds be- 
gan to overcast the Beaver Island magnate. At the instigation of some of the 
saints, King Strang was arrested and taken to Detroit, on board of a United 
States war-steamer, to answer to the charge of treason, robbing the mails, 
squatting on government land, and various other grave charges, but was finally 
acquitted. On the i6th day of June, 1855, a conspiracy among his subjects 
re;sulted in his assassination on that day. Strang did not die at once. He was 
cared for until death claimed him by his first and lawful wife, who had declined 
to live with him during his polygamous career. Strang died on the 9th of June, 
1855, and now occupies an unmarked grave at Spring Prairie.* 

After Strang's death, his island kingdom was razed to the ground by the 
fishermen with torch and ax, while the saints were banished. To-day, there 
are few visible signs that a Mormon empire once flourished on Beaver Island. 

*The Story of Wisconsin, 229. 



Chapter LXI. 



LOSS OF THE LADY ELGIN. 

Tlie Lady Elgin Run Down by the Schooner Augusta. — Sinking of the Lady Elgin. — 
Three Hundred Lives Lost. — Exciting Scenes and Miraculous Escapes. 

One of the saddest events that ever occurred on any of the lakes which 

form the great chain, was the sinking of the Lady Elgin, on Lake JVtichigan, 

in the early morn, on Saturday, September 8, i860, off the shores of Waukegan. 

This great disaster, which draped two cities in mourning — Milwaukee 

and Chicago — and caused great grief and sorrow for lost friends and relatives 

in various parts of America and 
Europe, was occasioned by the col- 
liding of the schooner Augusta with 
the steamer Lady Elgin on that fatal 
Saturday morning. 

Among the many important pas- 
sengers on board at the time of the 
disaster were Mr. F. A. Lumsden, of 
New Orleans, a North Carolinaian by 
birth. He was at this time editor of 
the Picayune, one of the most prom- 
inent of Southern papers. Mr. Lums- 
den, his wife, and fourteen-year-old 
son perished. Another gentleman of 
note was Herbert Ingram, Esq., M. P., 
well known, both in England and 
America, as the proprietor of the 
London Illustrated News. He and 
his son, who was with him, were 
among the lost. 

The Lady Elgin was built in Buffalo in 1851, and was named after the wife 
of the Governor-General of British America— Lord Elgin. She was a side- 
wheel steamer, of about three hundred feet in length, and ten hundred and 
twenty-seven tons burden. She was a fast and favorite boat on the lakes in those 
days, and was used three or four times each year for excursion purposes. 

461 




Fred. Snyder. 



462 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

She was originally employed in the Canada traffic of the lakes, and carried 
the mails along the northern shores, while the Grand Trunk Railway was yet 
incomplete. 

About 1855, she was purchased by Hibbard, Spencer & Co., of Chicago, 
to whom she belonged at the time of the calamity. Captain Wilson was her 
brave commander, a gentleman of ten years' experience in navigation of the 
Upper Lakes. He was a fine, brave, off-hand and vigilant man, and extremely 
popular among travelers on Lakes Michigan and Superior. Captain Wilson 
and his family were at this time residing in Chicago. 

It was on Friday evening, at about 1 1 130 o'clock, when the steamer Lady 
Elgin left Chicago on her return trip with between five hundred and six hundred 
passengers on board, about four hundred of them being Milwaukee excursionists. 
Among the excursionists were many members of the Union Guards and the 
Black and Green Jaegers. A Milwaukee band, which had accompanied the 
excursionists from Milwaukee, played jolly airs, while the young people danced 
merrily, never dreaming of the terrible fate that so shortly awaited them. 

When the steamer started, the wind was from the south, but about mid- 
night it veered around to the north and shortly blew a gale, accompanied by 
rain. The festivities in the cabin were kept up until about 2 o'clock Saturday 
morning. About this time the steamer received a terrible blow about midship, 
she trembled along her whole length, then fell over on one side. A terrible 
panic instantly followed. When the steamer righted herself, all was in dark- 
ness, the lamps having been shattered. Those who instantly rushed upon 
deck could just discern a large schooner nearly out of sight in the darkness 
and fog. No pen can more vividly describe the terrible events and scenes of 
horror than the personal narratives of the survivors, some of which we append. 

Fred Snyder, the popular proprietor of Marble Hall, in Milwaukee, and 
the president of the Survivors' Club, was, for many years prior to the disaster, 
a seafaring man. Throughout the whole trying ordeal he was perfectly cool 
and collected, consequently, his personal statement, which we append, is 
vastly interesting. 

Fred Snyder on the Raft. 

(From the Milwaukee Sentinel.) 

"We left Chicago September 7th, about 11:30 p. ]\i., with about five 
hundred passengers. Everybody was in the best of spirits. There was music 
and dancing in the cabin, and all the passengers were enjoying themselves. 
The boat was crowded and there were not staterooms enough. Fred Rice had 
given me a stateroom and when I got tired and wanted to lie down I went to 
it, but found that it was occupied by some of the excursionists. I woke them 
up and told them that they were in my room. They asked me to let them 
sleep until midnight, and I said all right. I saw Mr. Davis, chief mate of the 



LOSS OF THE LADY ELGIN. 463 

steamer, and said to him in a joking way, ' Do you let me get picked out of 
my berth by one of those tooth-picks?' meaning a vessel's jib-boom. He 
laughingly said, 'We are on deck and will take care of the tooth-picks.' Lit- 
tle did we think that the jest would prove true before dawn. 

"As I got out on deck I saw Mr. Quail, who came from Chicago with 
me. His berth had been taken by a friend. I spoke to Mr. Rice again and 
he said that we could sleep in the wheelman's berth. I went in, but Mr. Quail 
went to his own room. As I lay in the berth I heard the officers rushing 
about overhead. I had been asleep, and, though the collision woke me up, I 
did not hear it. But from the noise I thought something was wrong, and so I 
got up and put on my shoes. I tried to get out of the room, but could not 
find the door. I then woke the wheelman up to ask him where the door was. 
He told me go to sleep again as everything was all right. I said that I thought 
there was something the matter. I then went out and on the deck and met 
Mr. Quail. He had no hat on and his hair was standing on end. I asked 
him what the trouble was, and he said that we were all lost. I said, ' I guess 
not, you are frightened, we are all right.' 

" I then went through the cabin on the lower deck and the water was 
washing over the floor. I then went to the door of the bar-room. There 
was one man in the room and he was calling for more drinks. He was a 
large, portly man, a German. From the condition of the boat I saw that she 
was sinking. I went up through the cabin in somewhat of a hurry, and went 
to the hurricane deck to get ready to swim. I went out to the smoke-stacks 
where they kept the life-planks, as they were called. They were planks about 
fifteen inches wide and four feet long, with ropes, so that you could tie your- 
self to them. While I was up there I saw how the wreck had occurred. The 
schooner Augusta, in the height of the squall, had struck the steamer on the 
port side, forward of the port paddle-wheel. She ran her jib-boom through her 
pantry, while the pans and plates and all of the table outfit were on the 
schooner's deck. All on board were silent, their faces white with fright. 

"Well, I took my life-planks and tied them together. Then I grasped 
the whistle rope that connects with the pilot house. I pulled the rope, and it 
seems to me as if I never had heard such a mournful whistle as was given, I 
then cut the rope and took what I wanted to lash my planks together. Then I 
pulled the rope again, and the whistle was still more mournful and much less 
powerful than it was at first. It was the last time that the steamer's whistle 
ever sounded. I then sat down aft of the pilot house, on the hurricane deck, 
waiting for the steamer to sink. Captain Wilson was standing at his post on 
the pilot house giving orders to the man at the wheel and shouting to the 
passengers to break oft' the stateroom doors and hand them on the upper deck, 
so that they could be used to save life. He ordered the yawl to be lowered 



464 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

and mattresses to be put in her to stop up the hole made by the collision, but 
it was of no use. The chief mate had charge of the yawl, but could not get 
near enough to the steamer on account of her listing to port. 

" Suddenly the captain cried out for everyone to run aft or the boat 
would plunge into the lake head first. Everybody ran aft and then the steamer 
sank stern first. The smoke-stacks tumbled across each other, and Captain 
Wilson fell off the pilot house near me. I did not stir from the spot where I 
had commenced lashing my planks. There were heart-rending shrieks and 
then there was a death-like silence. The steamer had sunk. 

*' The upper deck broke away from the steamer. Where I sat I was out of 
the water. I looked around me and all was dark. As I sat there in the dark- 
ness, wondering how things would turn out, I heard someone calling me in a 
muffled voice. I answered, and asked what was wanted. They answered 
back and I said we were lucky fellows. The voice replied that there was no 
luck in having the steamer go down. I said that that was bad, but that we 
were lucky to be on the deck Avhich kept us a foot and a half out of the water, 
and that we were in the course of steamboats going up and down the lakes, 
and as soon as daybreak came some passing vessel would pick us up. By 
that time my eyes had become accustomed to the darkness. I could see 
who my companions were. The man I was talking to was one of the 
Union Guards, with a lady by his side kneeling and praying. I interrupted 
him and asked him why he did not take off his knapsack and belt, and throw 
them away so that he could swim. He did so. I then sat still waiting for 
daylight. Light at last came, and with it what a sight. As far as the eye 
could see there was nothing but human heads, for there was a black fog hanging 
about two feet from the water, and all one could see was the heads sticking 
out above the fog. Captain Wilson was standing near me inquiring about a 
friend from New Orleans, but could get no answer. I have forgotten what 
the friend's name was. 

" On the hurricane deck near us was a woman with her child, about six 
months old. The child was crying from the cold and wet, as though its heart 
would break. The part they were on broke off and the captain reached for 
the child but could not get it. Then I took hold of him so as to steady him 
and he took the little one from its mother's arms just before she sank into the 
water. He carried the child to another part of the wreck, walking on a mass 
of floating timber, cabin furniture and broken parts of the deck. 

" The wind increased and by eight o'clock was blowing a gale from the 
northeast, while the sea was getting very heavy, and the raft commenced 
breaking up. Lake Michigan for miles around was dotted with small rafts and 
floating objects with human beings on them. I was on one side of the raft, 
which was quite large, and as near as I could judge there must have been 



LOSS OF THE LADY ELGIN. 465 

twenty persons on it with me. I was knocked off by a big sea, and so were 
tliree or four more. I had my plank with me and as I swam back to the raft 
two or three of them hun.i; on to me. The only way I could get back onto the 
raft was by taking hold of a coat-tail that was hanging over the edge and float- 
ing on the water. I grasped that and pulled myself and the people that were 
hanging to me back upon the raft. When I took hold of the coat the owner 
of it commenced to sing out, * What are you doing? Let go of that coat — 
let go of that coat.' I looked at him. He was lying on the deck holding 
on with both hands. I said to him : ' Don't be in a hurry , you are all 
right. A yoke of oxen could not pull you off.' He was one of the cooks of 
the steamer. 

" While I was staniding on the hurricane deck a piece of the steamer's arch 
came floating along. A big sea lifted the arch and when it came down it hit a 
man, who was near me, on the head. I watched him as he sank, but he did 
not come up again. Another lime there came another piece of a broken 
arch with a boy hanging on to it. A big sea knocked another man off the raft 
and he took hold of the arch. His head was on one side and his feet were 
sticking out on the other, and the arch commenced rolling. I shouted to him 
to put his arms around the timber. I had no more than said this when he did 
so and he and the boy floated away in good shape. 

" By this time the wreck commenced breaking up, the planks separating, 
and, as I called it, each person was captain of his own craft. When the raft 
broke up there was another person on the piece of wreck with me. We both 
worked like heroes. We had two pieces of board, and with them we kept the 
floating timber and rubbish away from us. But when we got into the breakers 
Ave capsized, and I was under the raft. I had to get out from underneath it or 
get drowned, and the only way I could do it was to put my foot against the 
raft and give it a shove. I did this and came to the surface. I looked around 
for my partner but he was gone and I never saw him again. 

"There was an elderly lady floating on a part of the wreck near where I 
was. I should judge she was about fifty feet from me. She was kneeling and 
holding on for dear life, but when she got into the breakers she was washed off 
and drowned. There was a colored man close to her and by his looks and his 
actions he must have been sea-sick. I spoke to him and told him that if he did 
not keep his head out of the water, he would be drowned. The first breaker 
washed him off and that was the last I saw of him. 

" When I was on the wreck I looked off towards the south, and I saw 
a man and woman on the pilot house. In a moment the woman was washed 
off and the man jumped after her. Suddenly a big sea came and washed the man 
back to the pilot house. He grasped the edge and succeeded in getting safely 
back on it and bringing the woman with him. They both landed safely on the 



466 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

beach, and when I mentioned the circumstances I found it was John Lviston 
and his wife. He deserved great credit, for when he jumped into the water to 
rescue his wife he seemed to be going to certain death. On a part of the 
wreck there was a young lady and four men, and within ten feet of them there 
was another piece of wreck with two men on it. All of a sudden the young 
lady fell off, and one of the men cried out, ' Save her, she is my daughter.' 
But before they could do anything, the girl turned her face toward her father, 
and, givmg him one farewell look, sank. The men on the raft were 
saved. 

" In the morning, when daylight had appeared, I saw a good many people 
on the part of the wreck north of me. I sang out and asked if Mr. Quail was 
there and the answer came, ' Is that you, Snyder? ' I said it was, and asked 
him how he was feeling. He said, 'AH right, but a Roman punch would not 
go bad this morning.' I said that a gin cocktail would suit me better. That 
was the last we spoke, for before long he went to his long home, where there is 
no manufacturing of Roman punches. 

" When we got to the breakers, I got my planks under my left arm, with my 
right hand holding them so that I could steer them with the sea, and I never 
steered a straighter course in my seafaring life. When I neared shore I 
thought that I could touch bottom and made to the beach. I had no more 
than touched bottom and commenced to walk than a big breaker washed me 
up on the beach. Before I could get up, the undertow washed me out again 
and I thought I was gone, for the force of the waves took all of the breath out 
of me. In a minute another breaker washed me up high and dry. I have 
had some experience in breakers, so the last time I was washed up I dug my 
feet and hands into the sand and looked back to the water. I should judge it 
was twenty or thirty feet away from me when I got up and looked at the 
breakers and heavy sea. Mr. Shea and some other persons were on the beach 
where I was washed up. They took hold of me, and I said that I was all right, 
only that the lashings of the planks had bruised the flesh of my arm and pained 
me very much, I asked Mr. Shea if he had a knife. He took one from his 
pocket and tried to cut the rope, but could not do it. Then I took the knife 
and putting it sideways under the lashings and turned the edge up and cut the 
rope. 

"I asked some of the folks if there was any way of getting up the bank. 
Two men took hold of me and said they would haul me up the bank. I told 
them to let go ; that I was all right and could climb up the bank as well as they. 
There was a pathway up the bank and we soon reached the top of it. Then I 
went to a farm house, where there were about twenty of the survivors, and then 
we came home." 



LOSS OF THE LADY ELGIN. 467 

How John W. Eviston Came Ashore. 

{Narrative of J. IF. Eviston, as published in the Alihvaukee Sentinel.) 

"The boat was brilliantly lighted and the sailors were on watch a few 
minutes before 2 o'clock on the morning of the 8th of September, i860. When 
the collision occurred, my wife and I were in the gentlemen's cabin. We were 
both dressed. My brother Thomas met me a minute afterwards. I re- 
member, as if it were yesterday, the expression of his face as he said, with his 
stove-pipe hat drawn forward over his forehead, ' W^e are in a terrible fix. I 
A\ as down looking at the hole in the steamer, and you could drive a span of 
horses through it.' The next minute we heard the captain say, 'All hands to 
the hurricane deck.' So, we all went there, and soon after the captain gave 
the order, 'AH hands aft.' We thought then that we were near the shore, and 
that the order was given so as to beach the boat, but we afterwards learned that 
it was not so, and that we were at least seventeen miles offshore when we were 
struck. As we reached the hurricane deck I saw two spars lymg there, and tied 
them together with our handkerchiefs, I felt the rocking motion of the boat as 
she went from side to side, and knew she was settling all the while. I took off 
my coat and tied one sleeve around the spars, and just as I was about to tie the 
other sleeve the boat sank. W'e went down fifteen or twenty feet with her, and 
then the upper works of the steamer parted, and we shot back to the surface. 
AVe came up together and were fortunate enough to see a stateroom door float- 
ing near us. We seized it and held on. We were in the midst of thunder, 
lightning and rain. The lake around us was strewn with wreckage, floating 
bodies, dead and dying, which we could only see when a flash of lightning 
came. The sounds of prayers and curses were heard on all sides. I recall 
one sad incident as illustrating the terrible tragedy. Out of the darkness we 
heard the voice of a mother showering terms of endearment on her child, who 
had become separated from her, and then the voice of the child calling for her 
mother, and saying, 'Mamma, I'se afraid of the water.' For three-quarters of 
an hour the voices were heard, then they were fainter and then died away. 

" We hung on the door for an hour or two, and when it was near dawn, I 
saw something floating near us, and saw if we could get it, there was a chance 
for escape for us. I told my wife that I would try to get it, and did so, and 
found that it was the pilot house. I pushed it near to the door on which my 
wife was clinging, lifted my wife into it and got into it myself. We were up to 
our arms in water, but we had a rest for our feet, and I never felt so comfort- 
able in my life as I did at that moment. It was the same sensation that one 
experiences in sitting down in a rocking chair when one is very tired. I was so 
exhausted when we got the pilot house that I could not have held on to the 
door twenty minutes more. 



468 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

" We were no longer alone on the waste of water. Near us, within easy 
hailing distance, was a raft of collected wreckage forty of fifty feet long, in 
which was wedged a spar to which the pilot house was attached by a tarred 
rope an inch thick. On the raft were some young men with their hands in 
their pockets and some women in their night dresses. 

"As it grew light we saw the shore line, with trees like sticks in the dis- 
tance. The young fellows on the raft shouted three cheers ' for light and land.' 
The wind blew very chilly, and every few minutes one of the women on the 
raft would be overcome by the weather and fall into the lake. Suddenly a 
member of the German band that was on board of the Lady Elgin came float- 
ing by. He said something in German which I do not remember, but I caught 
his arm and threw it over the spar so that he kept his head above water and 
worked his way to the raft, where the young men helped him up, but in a few 
minutes that part of the wreck on which he was standing gave way and he 
sank. Then a man seemed to rise out of the depths of the lake and was near 
at hand. I called to him to help himself, but he clasped his hands in prayer 
and sank out of sight. The lake around me was covered with floating apples, 
and a demijohn was noticed. The young men on the raft called to me to catch 
the demijohn and throw it to them. I caught it, took out the cork and smelled 
of it, and knew it was liquor. I advised them not to drink much of it, but I 
threw it on the raft, and they took a swig, corked it up and threw it away. I 
also threw them some of the apples, which they ate. I captured a cabbage and 
a small mattress, which I put behind us so that we would not be bruised against 
the woodwork. The cabbage I put between us to keep us from bruising each 
other, for the waves were very high and we were tumbled about at a great rate. 

"The rope attaching us to the spar was a source of annoyance to us, and 
I asked the young men on the raft to lend me a knife and that I would return it, 
but they said they did not have any knife. So I got hold of the tarred rope 
with my teeth, under water, and chewed it till it separated. Our frail support 
sprang rapidly away from the raft. All the women had been lost before that, 
and all of the forty or fifty people that were on the raft at first who were left, 
were two young men. We never saw them again. 

"All this time we were gradually nearing shore off Winnetka. In the 
afternoon we got into the breakers. The first one threw us forward sixty feet, 
it seemed; the second tumbled us over and over in the pilot house, and when 
this was repeated four or five times my wife became unconscious. I could see 
the crowd of people on top of the bluff, and I felt hard toward them because 
they took no steps to save us. As my wife became unconscious I gathered her 
in my arms and made a spring. I alighted in the water up to my chin with my 
feet on the sand. A young college student, named Spencer, who had a rope 
around his neck, came running down into the surf. I put my wife's body 



LOSS OF THE LADY ELGIN. 469 

under my arm so that her head was held out of the water, and, catching his 
hand, we were drawn up high and dry. I carried my wife to the top of the 
bluff, and, as they took her away, I gave out and settled down on the ground. 

"Mrs. Eviston was taken into a cabin near there, and, after they had 
worked at her for some time, the physicians pronounced her dead. Dr. Gore, 
of Chicago, brought her to life, however, by striking the bottom of her feet with 
a piece of pine, and thus starting the pulsation in her ankles. 

" My brother, Thomas, was lost, and so was his wife. His body came 
ashore at Chicago harbor, and hers was found three weeks after. The body of 
a teacher in a Third ward school, named Mahoney, came ashore at the foot of 
Detroit .street, the same street on which is located the school." 

Statement of Lieutenant Hartsuff. 

{From the N'nu York Illustrated News, September 22, jSbo.) 

" I was on board the Lady Elgin when she collided with the schooner 
Augusta, asleep in my berth; I immediately jumped from my berth, and saw 
the schooner floatmg away ; did not think any serious damage had been done 
at first, but soon discovered that the steamer was settling ; I immediately left 
my berth, which was in the after-cabin, where 1 found Captain Wilson on the 
hurricane deck; I asked him if he thought there was any danger, and he replied 
that he thought she would float; he told me where there were life-preservers on 
the hurricane deck, and I went and passed them down to the passengers \\\ the 
cabin, till they were about exhausted, when I took one myself and waited on 
the hurricane deck; while there, quite a number came on deck, only a few 
of whom were females, but how many came up I could not say, as it was very 
dark; from a (juarter to a half an hour after she was struck she broke up, the 
hurricane deck floated off, and the hulk going down with a tremendous noise ; 
as she broke, I jumped with a life-preserver — a board six or eight feet long and 
one wide — into the water, which was at this time only a few feet below us, and 
pulled with all my might to escape from the mass of the w reck ; after the con- 
fusion had somewhat subsided, I heard the voice of Captain Wilson cheering 
and encouraging the people on the wreck, telling them that the shore was but 
a few miles off, and, that if they kept calm and obeyed his directions they might 
all be saved; I heard him in this manner for perhaps ten minutes, and then I 
had separated so far from the hurricane deck on which the captain and a large 
number were, that I heard no more; all around me were numbers of persons 
floating on i)ieces of the wreck, until it became daylight; it became so light 
that I could see some distance, I discovered a large mass of the wTeck a little 
distance to the windward of us, covered with people; I then got on quite a 
large piece of wreck which was floating near me, and which contained no other 
person, and no person got on it after I did; the large mass to the windward, 



470 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

of which I have just spoken, now began to separate; I then left the piece I 
was on and got on a large piece of the hurricane deck, on which were four 
other persons; don't know who they were. On this fragment I remained until 
we reached about a quarter-mile of the shore, when our raft broke up, and two, 
of the four on it with me, were washed off and drowned; a moment after, the 
remainder of our party were washed off by a heavy sea, and one more of our 
little party drowned; my remaining companion contrived to regain the raft 
and I again took a life-preserver which I found afloat, and on this I floated to 
the shore just bdow the bluff"; from the time I was swept from the raft until I 
reached the shore, I was several times buried deep under the waves; when close 
to shore I was thrown from my raft and went to the bottom, and although the 
water was not more than three or four feet, I was so exhausted as to be unable 
to rise, and crawled for some distance under the water until I reached dry 
land. 

' ' Early in the morning I discovered a fragment of the wreck a short dis- 
tance from me, on which was a woman and three men. She was so much ex- 
hausted that she seemed unable to keep from dropping to sleep, although the 
exertions of the three men were continually in use to prevent it. She was 
finally drowned while remaining on the wreck, being unable to keep her head 
from the water. Her body remained on the fragment of the wreck as long as 
it was in sight. I saw many pieces of wreck, containing from two to four per- 
sons, capsized, almost invariably drowning all that were on them. To avoid the 
capsizing of our frail craft bark, I instructed the men with me to sit on it so as to 
keep the edges under water. This prevented us capsizing and at the same 
time enabled us to float faster; we, in this way, having passed many of the 
other crafts. I saw one woman alone floatmg on a dining table, and, a short 
time after I discovered her, the table capsized, and she disappeared under water 
for several seconds, but, finally, reappeared on the surface, clinging to the table, 
and, eventually, by great exertions, she regained her seat upon the table. When 
I last saw her she was near the shore, and, as I heard of a woman being saved 
shortly after I was taken to a house near by, I presume she must have been the 
one. By my instructions, our party most of the time turned our faces from the 
shore, and thus faced the waves, and in this way we were enabled to watch the 
breakers as they came toward us, and be prepared for them. In this way we 
were several times saved from being washed off, while almost all those near us 
were carried off their frail bark, and perished. Under one piece of the wreck 
which was found floating near us, were four dead cattle, fastened to it. On 
this were three or four persons. The buoyancy of the dead bodies of the cat- 
tle kept this piece of the wreck almost entirely out of the water, and when last 
seen this peculiar life-boat was very near the shore, and the persons on it were 
doubtless saved. 



LOSS OF THE LADY ELGIN. 471 

"When I passed through the cabin on the way to the pilot house, imme- 
diately after the collision, there was much confusion there. Many of the pas- 
sengejs, owing to the scarcity of berths, were asleep on the floor, and, when the 
collision took place, the vessel listed so much that all rolled in a i)ile on one 
side of the cabin. This caused much confusion, and when persons from above 
commenced pulling down the doors and other floating material, the anxiety to 
obtain these preservers was great indeed. About daylight 1 saw one boat, 
badly stove, bottom side up, six or seven men clinging to it. Whether or not 
they were saved I cannot say. 

'' When I reached the shore, every attention which heartfelt sympathy 
could suggest was paid to me and the other survivors. One gentleman pulled 
off his coat and gave it to me, and another his boots. Mr. Pierce, of the Adams 
House, Chicago, was one of the first to reach the scene of disaster, and his ef- 
forts for the comfort and safety of all were unceasing. 

" During the time I was on the wreck 1 contrived to keep myself warm by 
thrashing my arms, catching pieces of wreck, etc., and in this manner I saved 
myself from suftering from the cold, which proved so fatal to many." 

Statement of M. E. Smith, of Ontonagon. 

(Published Septanher 22, 18 bo, hi the New York Illustrated Nnvs.) 

"I was asleep in the mate's room when the collision took place; but, 
awakened by the loud crash, I went on deck as soon as possible. The vessel 
Avith which we collided had got clear of us, and Captain Wilson was giving 
orders to lower a boat to ascertain the extent of the injury ; but when down the 
boat could not get near the Elgin by reason of the waves and wind. I assisted 
in rolling freight to the starboard, to list the boat over, and also in getting over- 
board some cattle for the purpose of hghtering up. But the water seemed to be 
coming in so fast that the captain ran to the pilot house to see how she was 
lieadmg. Being told ' west ' he said, ' That's right, boys, get her in to land if 
you can.' He then ran back to the cabin and endeavored to arouse the 
sleepers, and get them on the hurricane deck. Many of the stateroom doors 
were fastened, and he broke them in with an axe, exhorting the sleepers, many 
of whom had been drinking a good deal, to rouse up and save themselves. A 
few of them refused to leave their berths, but after a little time, a greater part 
of the passengers had got to the upper deck. The captain told each man and 
woman to get a plank life-preserver — in which loops of rope were tied — and 
prepare for the worst. There appeared to be plenty of these, and some were 
passed down the skylights into the cabins for the use of those who would not 
come out. Most of tlie passengers were cool and collected. Captain Vv'ilson 
kept encouraging them by cheerful words and by assurances that the deck 
would carry us all ashore. At length — surely not more than fifteen minutes 



472 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

from the first alarm — the Elgin began to settle and reel as if for the final plunge. 
A few loud screams arose, and a few frantic passengers jumped overboard in a 
hurry to meet their fate. Just at the moment when the boat went down, a sea 
struck her upper works, and they parted from the hull and floated off in several 
pieces. This was a trying moment. The shock and force of the waves swept 
off several of our number; but the night was dark, and as the lights were soon 
gone, I found myself on a piece of the wreck, perhaps 15x30 — a portion of the 
upper deck, the boards and ribs, or carlins, to which they were nailed. In com- 
pany with me were from twenty-five to twenty-eight persons, and we had 
nothing to do but to suffer ourselves to be floated toward shore. Among the 
pieces of wreck we found a few cabin doors. These we secured and, setting 
them and our pieces of plank up on end, broadside to the wind, made them 
serve as sails. Soon after setting out on our perilous journey, we discovered 
another piece of the deck, more deeply loaded than ours. Captain Wilson was 
on it, with two or three others; he came to our float and continued with us, 
keeping us in heart with his words of good cheer. After daybreak he busied 
himself in providing for the general safety, by fastening loops to the carlins, 
by which we might hang on when we came to the surf. There were with us 
four or five women. One of these had a child about six months old, for the 
safety of which the captain was exceedingly solicitous. He held it when not 
otherwise employed. He had given it up but a moment, to attend to some 
matter, when a wave swept it out of the hands of him to whom he handed it, 
and it was gone. This child and a man and woman were all lost. We spent 
the night in comparative comfort. The storm was severe, but we did not suffer 
greatly from the cold. The water was warm. 

"About g: 15 o'clock we neared the shore of Winnetka. About two hundred 
feet from the shore our frail craft was lifted by the surf, which was running in 
strong, and completely capsized. The raft was broken by the force of the waves. 
Captain W^ilson, Mr. Walde, of the National Mine, Ontonagon, Mr. George 
Newton, of Superior City, and myself, clung to one piece of the deck; but 
again striking the surf we again capsized, and all thrown into the surging waves. 
I managed to strike the wreck again and Mr. Walde got on another piece, but 
Mr. Newton and Captain Wilson were seen no more. After much exertion 
and appalling danger, I gained the land. Of the twenty-eight on our raft, 
only eight — seven men and one woman — were saved. The others went down 
within sight and sound of safety. 

" I want to say that Captain Wilson behaved nobly from beginning to the 
fatal close. That any are saved, except those that came oft' in the boats, is 
due to him." 



LOSS OF THE LADY ELGIN. 473 

Francis Boyd's Experience. 

Graphic Description of the Fight with the Waves on the Raft. 

(From the Milwaukee Sentinel.) 

"We left Chicago about 11 o'clock, or a little after, on the night of the 
accident (September 7th). It was a very hot, close night, and for this reason 
the boat kept well out from shore to get cool air. The boat was crowded 
with passengers and had a heavy load of freight for Mackinaw and Lake Su- 
perior ports. Everything went on all right. The passengers were dancing in 
the cabin until nearly two o'clock. A little before two o'clock in the morn- 
ing she was struck by a heavy squall from the northeast, and the change of 
wind was very sudden. Just as the squall struck us there was a schooner 
called the Augusta near by, and when the men on the schooner let go the 
head sheets and kept the mainsail on her, the Lady Elgin happened to be in her 
way. She struck the Lady Elgin just abaft the upper deck, and made a hole 
at the water line that we could roll a hogshead through. I happened to be 
standing on the forward deck at the time, and saw the whole affair. Of course, 
there was a great panic and running around. The people were excited and 
wild. They headed the steamer to the shore. The steamer, at the time of 
the collision, was off Waukegan, in sight of Kenosha light. In five or ten 
minutes the boat went down. The boats were all lowered and filled, but there 
was a heavy sea running after the squall, and they all swamped but one, which 
came ashore at six o'clock in the morning. That boat was in charge of the 
porter of the vessel. 

" I, myself, jumped overboard a few minutes before she went down, with 
an oar in my hand, and swam around with that until she went down. It was 
raining very hard then, and the thunder and lightning was very heavy. I got 
a good glimpse of her just as she went down, in a lightning flash. She seemed 
to break in the center and settle down amidships. I drifted across some of 
the wreckage, that they called the raft — the upper decks of the steamer which 
broke off when the steamer went down. I got on the raft and sat there awhile. 
Just before daybreak Captain Wilson came around and called for volunteers to 
help manage the raft, and I joined them. We kept the raft headed to the east, 
and sailed before the wind, and brought up in the breakers off Winnetka, the 
first one of which tore the raft all to pieces and rolled it up like a carpet. At 
daybreak, there were sixty persons on the raft, by actual count, but, occa- 
sionally, one or two would be washed off and seemed to die of the cold or 
perish of exhaustion. The air was very cold and the water was warm, and 
the way we kept from freezing was to dip ourselves occasionally in the water. 
When the raft broke up I got hold of a piece of it with three other men, and 
navigated it to the bank. ' It was a perilous passage. The sea was running 



474 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

higli, and great beams and pieces of wreckage were constantly dashing about, to 
the danger of all in the vicinity. The breakers tore us off our raft, but we al- 
ways got back the best way we could. Finally, we landed at Steep Bluff. It 
was so precipitous that we could not get up the bank, but men on top of the 
bluff let down ropes and hauled us to the top, one by one. We were in a very 
cold and wet condition. We were directed to a residence near by, and went 
there. It proved to be the residence of a Chicago commission merchant, 
named Clark. He suppHed us with food and blankets, and a cart to ride to 
the depot. The three men who were saved with me were Denny Gilmore, a 
brother of the band leader, who was a resident of the Third ward, John Mc- 
Lindell, who keeps the McLindell house, and James McManus, a machinist in 
the shops of the Mississippi railroad. 

"There was sixty-five or sixty-six persons saved, and papers at the time 
placed the number of lost at about three hundred and ninety. Of the 
sixty-five or sixty-six on the raft, only eight or ten were saved. Most of 
them were killed by the breakers. Captain Wilson had his skull crushed by a 
limber a few feet from shore. He was carrying a baby in his arms when he 
went down. We saw him go down, and when he didn't come up again we 
knew he was lost. Tom Eviston, chief of the fire department, had his head 
crushed in the breakers. John W. Eviston saved his wife and himself by float- 
ing ashore on top of the pilot house, and Martin Eviston came ashore on top 
of an overturned boat. 

"The occasion of the big crowd of Milwaukeeans on the boat was an ex- 
cursion rate of one dollar for the round trip from Milwaukee to Chicago, for the 
benefit of the Montgomery Guard. Governor Randall had taken away the 
company's arms, which belonged to the state, and the friends of Captain 
Barry volunteered to present the company with arms of their own. So, various 
devices were employed to raise the necessary funds, one of which was the ex- 
cursion. Many militiamen were among the excursionists that perished, as well 
as city officials and members of the fire department. It was a woful time 
for Milwaukee. The whole city was draped in black. Nineteen victims were 
buried in one day from the St. John's Cathedral, and there were many funerals. 
In fact, I did not do anything for two months but act as pallbearer for the 
victims of the disaster. They kept coming ashore at many different points. 
A singular case was that of a young man named Rooney, whose father kept an 
auctioneer's place on East Water street, between Huron and Detroit. The 
son's body came ashore at the foot of Huron street. Another body from the 
wreck came ashore at Port Washington, others in Chicago harbor, and others 
came ashore across the lake." 



LOSS OF THE LADY ELGIN. 475 

Scenes at the Wreck. 

{From the Chicago Press and Trilntnc.) 

" When our reporters reached Winnetka, at 10 a. m., the surf was rolUng 
in heavily and breaking in thunder along the beach, the gale having risen to a 
fearful fury, from the northeast, and thus nearly on shore. The shore there 
was an uneven bluff, ranging from thirty to sixty feet in height, with a narrow 
strip of beach at its base. 

" The whole beach for three miles we found strewn with fragments of the 
light, upper portions of the ill-fated steamer, and out at sea, where the waves 
were rolling more heavily than is usually seen even in our September gales, 
the surface of the angry waters for miles in extent, as far as the eye could 
reach seaward, was dotted with fragments of the wreck, and rafts and spars 
with what were clearly made out to be human beings clinging to them. At this 
time (10 A. M.) various authorities make out that from eighty to one hundred 
persons could have been counted driving at the mercy of the maddened ele- 
ments, toward the high rolling breakers and surf-washed beach and bluff, 
whence thousands with straining eyes watched their progress, and with pale 
cheeks noted, as alas, too many, meet their fate in the waves. 

" Parties of men were on the alert and ready for the work of rescue. 
Word was sent to Evanston, and citizens and its entire student community 
came up in force. Attention was first directed to a large raft coming in steadily 
but bravely over the waves, upon which were standing a large group of human 
beings, since known to have been some fifty in number. Around and beyond 
it on all sides were single survivors and groups of two and three, or more, but 
painful interest centered upon the fate of that larger raft. It reached the 
seething line of surf. With a glass those on shore could see that the company 
on board seemed to obey the orders of one. That ladies and children were 
there — hearts on shore forgot to beat for an instant, and then saw the raft 
break and disappear in the seas. Of the entire number on board, only fifteen 
names appear in our list of the saved. Of the lost was the brave heart who 
tried his best to save those committed to his charge, and perished in the 
attempt — brave Captain Jack AVilson, the commander of the unfortunate 
steamer. 

"Thenceforward the scene on the shore until 2 p. m., when the last sur- 
vivor was drawn out of the surf, was a scene which lookers-on will never forget. 
Of its nature the best proof is the fact that the from forty to fifty persons saved 
were less than one-third of the number that came in from the lake to pass the 
fearful gauntlet of the line of breakers, several hundred feet off shore, were 
under the very eyes and almost within hail of those on shore, we saw the 
majority perish. The rafts would come into the line of surf, dip to the force 



476 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

of the waves and then turn completely over. Again and again would rafts 
containing from one to five or more persons gradually near the shore and then 
be lost, where a stone's cast would reach them, yet really as far from human 
help as if in mid-ocean. 

"The scenes of these fearful hours would fill a volume. The episode of 
the saving of John W. Eviston, of Milwaukee, with his wife in his arms, was 
one that left few eyes dry among the spectators. He had secured himself and 
precious burden to the severed roof of the pilot house, a stout, octagonal 
canvas-covered frame. As this came in, he was seen upon it, holding in one arm 
a woman. Again and again the waves broke over them, and more than once 
both were submerged. Still they came on, passed the first breakers, and mid- 
way thence to the shore their raft hung, beaten and swept by roller after roller, 
and for minutes making no progress, while the breathless spectators, not two 
hundred feet distant, watched and waited the result. 

Why She Went Down. 

" It is now evident from the appearance of that part of the wreck that 
lies at Daggett's Point, near Waukegan, that the final catastrophe was 
brought about by the dropping of the engine walking-beam, etc., through the 
bottom. At the point above named, all that part of the hull abaft the mid- 
ships, on the larboard side, lies upon the beach — a full fourth of the hull from 
the plank shear to the keel. The most rational explanation of the disaster is, 
that the colliding vessel carried away the larboard wheel, and most of the engine 
braces on that side, and that as soon as she rolled a-port, the engine, walking- 
beam, etc., having nothing to sustain them, carried away a large part of the 
hull, and went down on the larboard side of the keel, producing the catastro- 
phe, which all the saved described as very sudden. It is probable that the first 
violent roll after the collision did the fatal work. On no other hypothesis can 
we account for the separation of the hull, and explain the positive testimony 
of some of the officers, that the walking-beam went down before the upper 
works floated oft". 

The Scene in Mh.waukee When the News Arrived. 

"An eye-witness informs us that the scene at Milwaukee on Saturday 
morning, when the news of the catastrophe was first received, can never be 
eff"aced from his memory. The stores in the principal streets were immediately 
deserted, many of them being left open and unattended, and all rushed to the 
telegraph office to learn the extent of the loss. In walking along the streets 
it seemed as if every second person met was either crying or so dumb-stricken 
that he could not express himself, nor recognize his friends and acquaintances." 



LOSS OF THE LADY ELGIN. 477 

The schooner Augusta, which caused this fearful catastrophe, continued 
to come to the Milwaukee port until the feeling became so bitter against the 
vessel that her owners made application to the treasury department and ob- 
tained permission to change the name of the craft to Col. Cook. She is still 
plying the lakes between Cleveland and Kelly's Island in the stone carrying 
trade, and is owned by L. P. and J. A. Smith, of Cleveland. 

On September 7, 1889, the survivors of the Lady Elgin met at Milwau- 
kee, and organized the Lady Elgin Survivors' Society, with Fred Snyder as 
president and Frank Boyd as its secretary. One of the principal objects of 
the organization was to provide a fund for masses to be said for the souls of 
the ill-fated passengers. A fund sufficient to pay for the masses at St. John's 
Cathedral, at Milwaukee, for all future time, was easily raised. The original 
membership of the society was twenty-five, but death has reduced the number 
of the society to sixteen. The annual meeting is held on September 8th. 

Names of Survivors Still Living. 

Fred Snyder, 103 7th Street, ------ Milwaukee. 

Frank Boyd, 1000 Grand Avenue, -._-.." 

Thomas Shea, 322 Madison Street, ------ " 

John J. Crilly, 316 Jackson Street, ..----" 

Martin Eviston, 234 Broadway, ------ 

John Rossiter, 386 Cass Street, --.----" 

C. Beverung, 609 2d Street, - - - - . . 

Ed. Mallon, 922 Clybourne Street, --.-_-" 
Mr. and Mrs. John Eviston, 523 Jackson Street, - - - " 

J. H. Miller, 467 3d Avenue, ....---" 

William Dever, 226 i6th Street, ------ 

John H. Murray, 2313 Wells Street, -.-.--" 
Adelbert Doebert, 583 7th Street, ------ 

John Roper, Milwaukee Street, -------- 

Jerome Rode, ...---.-- 

John McLindell, McLindell House, ------ 

Hugh Sullivan, 916 St. Paul Avenue, . . - - - 
William Edward, 315 Jackson Street, ------ 

Phillip Edward, 315 Jackson Street, ----- 

Rooney, ....----- 

Mrs. Edward Burke, 278 Milwaukee Street, . - - - 

John Regan, - . . - - 

Fred Kutemeyer, -------- Wauwatosa. 

John Ravers, - ------- St. Paul, Minn. 

Thomas B. Keogh, ------- Goldsborough, N. C. 



478 



HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 



J. H. Cook, - 
Thomas Murray, 
Mrs. Frank Evans, 
First Mate George Davis, 
Steward Fred Rice, 
Mrs. Frank Horn, - 
W. H. Gunnison, 
Mrs. Margaret Hayes, 
William Moats, - 



Appleton, Wis. 

Random Lake, Wis. 

St. Louis, Mo. 

Residence unknown. 

Residence unknown. 

Columbus, Ohio. 

Rochester, N. Y. 

Erie, Pa. 

Troy, N. Y. 



e^^^vV^ 




Senator Matt. H. Carpenter. 



Chapter LXII. 



Administration of Governor Ludinoton. 



1876-1878. 

Biographical Sketch of (jovernor Ludington. — Important Events. — Elections. 



Harrison Ludington, our eighteenth governor, was born in Putnam 
county, New York, on July 31, 181 2. In early Hfe he worked hard through 
the summer months, and during the winters attended the district schools. 
This was all the education which Harrison Ludington received. 

When 26 years of age, he started for 
the wild west. By foot and by stage he 
traveled until he reached Milwaukee, in 
November, 1838, and now became a per- 
manent settler. He immediately entered 
into the general mercantile business with 
his brother Lewis, under the firm name 
of Ludington &: Co., and here Governor 
Ludington's honorable and upright ca- 
reer began. In 185 1, Mr. Ludington 
became senior member of the firm of 
Ludington, Wells & Van Schaick, a 
lumbering concern. This business was 
one of the largest and most profitable in 
the Northwest. 

Harrison Ludington was a Whig in 
politics, until the formation of the Re- 
publican party, in 1854, which party he 
joined. He was twice elected alderman, 
and three times mayor of Milwaukee. His office was conducted in an able, 
trustworthy manner, with economy and success. It was during the time 
that Mr. Ludington was mayor that the "great fire" swept over Chicago. 
His energetic spirit and generous hand made it possible for the people of Mil- 
waukee to extend relief to the suffering masses, and not only did the common 
council of Milwaukee give thanks to their mayor, but also was a special ac- 
knowledgment of thanks tendered him by the Chicago authorities. 

479 




48o HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

In 1875, the Republican convention met at Madison, and placed in nom- 
ination their strongest man for governor — Harrison Ludington. He was 
elected over Governor Taylor, by the small majority of eight hundred and 
forty-one, while all the other Republican candidates were defeated. In Jan- 
uary, 1876, he resigned his position as mayor of Milwaukee, and was inaugu- 
rated governor of Wisconsin. At the end of his term he declined to be renom- 
inated. 

His business qualifications were fully demonstrated in the opening para- 
graph of his first message to the legislature, which was as follows : 

" It may not be considered unbecoming for me to express some doubt as 
to the wisdom of the provision of the constitution, which makes it the duty of 
the incoming governor to communicate to the legislature the condition of the 
state, and recommend such matters to them for their consideration as he may 
deem expedient. It would appear that such information and recommendation 
might more properly come from the citizen who had administered the affairs of 
the state during the past year, than from one who had just been called from 
other occupations to that duty." 

During the entire term of Mr. Ludington's administration, he himself 
went over the books and records of the executive office every week. His 
clerks were capable and experienced, yet of his own personal knowledge must 
he know that the public business was being done promptly and properly. 

Mr. Harrison Ludington was a genial, whole-hearted man, always willing 
to lend a helping hand. Ready always to help the poor, and through this 
reason was known to the masses by no other name than " Bluff Hal." 

Events of 1876. 

The twenty-ninth session of the Wisconsin legislature convened January 
12, 1876, and was in session until March 14, 1876, a period of sixty-three days. 
This legislature consisted of one hundred and thirty-three members. 

The senate was organized with Charles D. Parker as president, R. L. D. 
Potter as president pro tcni., and A. J. Turner, chief clerk, while the assembly 
was organized with Samuel S. Fifield as speaker, R. M. Strong chief clerk, 
and CD. Long as assistant clerk. 

(Governor Ludington's message to the legislature was an able document, 
t-reating upon the necessities of the state, together with suggested needy reforms.) 

This legislature passed a large amount of necessary laws and amendments 
to existing laws, together with incorporate acts. Among the numerous im- 
portant laws passed at this session, were those pertaining to civil and criminal 
actions, acts pertaining to the assessment of property, to prevent fraud in bank- 
ing, authorizing foreign trustees to bring actions within the state, redemption 



WISCONSIN'S STATE GOVERNORS. 481 

of land sold under foreclosure, authorizing the establishment of free high 
schools, prohibiting gambling in railroad cars, and acts pertaining to the 
preservation of game and fish. 

The city charters of Appleton, Beloit, Eau Claire, Fond du Lac, Grand 
Rapids, Green Bay, La Crosse, Madison, Manitowoc, Menasha, Oconto, 
Oshkosh, Platteville, Portage, Ripon, Sheboygan, and Wausau were 
amended. 

Tliis legislature wisely made liberal appropriations for the following i)ul)lic 
institutions : 

State i)rison at U'aupun $27,870 

i'or the payment of pensions of soldiers' orphans 4,000 

To the Institution for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb 335 5°° 

For building laundry and kitchen for same 6,500 

For the Institution for the Education of the BHnd 1,800 

Industrial School for Boys 31,000 

For the purpose of introducing the manufacture of boots and shoes 

into the above institution 15,000 

For the completion of the above building, furniture and fixtures 5,000 

Dodge County Agricultural Society 100 

Wisconsin State Agricultural Society 2,000 

Outagamie County Agricultural Society 100 

Iowa and Door County Agricultural Society, each 100 

Waukesha County Agricultural Society 100 

As a contingent fund for the improvement of the Fox and Wisconsin 

rivers, $300, and for the governor's contingent fund 2,000 

To the State Board of Centennial Managers 20,000 

The Supreme Court, at its January term this year, decided that under our 
statutory laws, women could not be admitted to practice law before that 
court. 

The presidential election of 1876 created in Wisconsin, as in all other 
states, great excitement. The campaigns on the part of the presidential nomi- 
nees, Rutherford B. Hayes and Samuel ]. Tilden were well organized, and 
bitterly contested throughout every precinct in our state. Mr. Hayes received 
130,068 votes as against Mr. Tilden's 123,927 votes, which resulted in the 
election of the following presidential electors: At large, Wm. H. Hiner, 
Francis Cam[jbell. 

First district, T. D. Weeks; 2d district, T. D. Lange ; 3d di.strict, Daniel 
D. Downes; 4th district, Casper M.. Sanger; 5th district, Charles Luling ; 
6th district, Charles H. Foster; 7th district, Charles B. Solberg; 8th district, 
John H Knapp. 



482 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

Events of 1877. 

The thirtieth session of the Wisconsin legislature convened at Madison, 
January 10, 1877, and adjourned March 8, 1877, after a period of fifty- 
eight days. This legislature was composed of one hundred and thirty-three 
members. 

The state senate was organized with Lieutenant-Governor Charles D. 
Parker as its president, W. H. Hiner, president pro tern., and A. J. Turner, 
chief clerk. 

The assembly was organized with J. B. Cassoday as speaker, W. A. 
Novvell, chief clerk, and Charles D. King as assistant clerk. 

The governor, in his able message, again pointed out to the legislature 
many needed reforms and laid before that body a statistical statement of the 
various public institutions throughout the state. This legislature passed the 
usual batch of general, private and local laws, and made the usual number of 
necessary and unnecessary amendments to the statutes. Among the numerous 
appropriations passed by this legislature were appropriations to the following 
institutions : 

Wisconsin Hospital for the Insane. 

Northern Wisconsin Agricultural and Mechanical Association. 

Home for the Friendless at Milwaukee. 

State Prison. 

Northern Hospital for the Insane. 

Deaf and Dumb Institute. 

Institute for the Blind. 

Industrial School for Boys. 

Soldiers' orphans. 

State Fish Commissioners and 

Superintendent of Public Property. 

The legislature at this session also passed a law granting to women the 
privilege of practicing law in the various state courts. 

It was during the summer of 1877 that a cyclone visited Pensaukee, 
Oconto county, and devastated considerable property. 

The state Democratic convention convened early in the fall of 1877, and 
placed in nomination the following ticket : 

For governor, James A. Mallory; for lieutenant-governor, Romanzo E. 
Davis; for secretary of state, James B. Hayes ; for state treasurer, John Ringle ; 
for attorney-general, J. M. Morrow; for state superintendent, Edward 
Searing. 

The Republican state convention placed in nomination the following ticket 
in opposition to the Democratic nominees : 



WISCONSIN'S STATE GOVERNORS. 483 

For governor, William E. Smith; for lieutenant-governor, James M. Bing- 
ham; for secretary of state, Hans B. Warner; for state treasurer, Richard 
Guenther; for attorney-general, Alexander Wilson; for state superintendent, 
William C. AVhitford. 

At the November election the whole Republican state ticket was elected, 
Governor Smith's plurality being 8,273. ^^ this election the following mem- 
bers of congress were elected : 

Charles G. Williams, Edward S. Bragg, Lucien B. Caswell, Gabriel Bouck, 
George C. Hazelton, Herman L. Humphrey, William Pitt Lynde, Thaddeus 
C. Pound. 



Chapter LXIII. 

Administration ok (Iovkrnor Smith. 



1878-1882. 

Biographical Sketch of William K. Smith. — Important Events During His Administration. 

Oi'R next governor is the kindly, courteou.s, even-tempered William K. 
Smith. His ability and worth are not questioned. He was born on June 18, 
1824, near Inverness, Scotland, thus being the first foreigner who was ever 
dected to fill the highest executive oftice of the state of Wisconsin. In 1835, 

his family emigrated to America, and 
settled at Commerce, Oakland county, 
Michigan. William finished his well- 
begun education in this country, then de- 
cided to adopt a mercantile life, and so 
first started in business in Michigan, but 
after a few years went to New York, 
where he entered the wholesale dry goods 
house of Ira Smith & Co. This was one 
of the largest concerns of the time. He 
remained in their employ five years. 

When twenty- five years of age he 
came West, and settled in Racine county, 
^Visconsin, not being satisfied with the 
l)lace, however, moved to Fox Lake, 
Dodge county, where he established him- 
self in the mercantile business, which he 
conducted for a period of twenty-three 
years without intermission. 
He was married in 1850, his wife being the daugliter of the well-known 
Rev. John Booth, of Michigan. 

In 1850, he was elected to the state assembly, and the following year was 
nominated for assemblyman, but would not run. In 1857-58, he was a mem- 
ber of the state senate and, during the same year, was appointed by (jovernor 
Randall regent of the state normal schools. He held this last position for 
twenty successive years, or until he himself was made governor. 

In 1864 William E. Smith was again state senator, but before his term had 
fully expired, he was elected state treasurer, and, in 1867, re-elected to the 




486 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

same office. The uninvested " trust funds" of the state during the possession 
of this office, were handled in such a manner that great credit was added to 
his already substantial career. From this time on the private affairs of the 
governor were merged into public affairs. In November, 1870, he was elected 
to the legislature, and in January, 187 1, was make speaker of the assembly. 
In this latter trust Mr. Smith was more than successful. The quickness and 
justness of his decisions, the ability to detect underhand attempts and subter- 
fuges, his genial manners, and his firmness to do right in all cases, were of the 
utmost account in making him what he was — a success. 

In 1872 Mr. Smith moved to Milwaukee and entered into the wholesale 
grocery business with Judson A. Roundy and Sidney Hauxhurst, under the 
firm name of Smith, Roundy & Co. In 1874 he was appomted a director of 
the Wisconsin state prison, which position he occupied until his election as 
governor compelled him to resign his old office. It was in the year of 1877 
that William K. Smith received the Republican nomination for governor of 
Wisconsin. During this campaign there were three candidates, the first case 
of this kind in the history of the state. Edward P. Allis was candidate for 
the Greenbackers, and Judge James A. Mallory the Democratic nominee. The 
representatives were all influential, powerful men, and when William E. Smith 
was elected by a pluraUty of over eight thousand votes, it proved that the peo- 
ple were well aware of his faithfulness and sterling ability. They were not dis- 
appointed — from the first Governor Smith's administration was very popular. 
In 1879 he was re-elected and served conscientiously and well in the high posi- 
tion of trust vested in him. Upon his retirement from office, in January of 
1882, he returned to Milwaukee, and together with his son, Ira, and Henry 
M. Mendel, again started in the wholesale grocery business, which, because of 
his popularity, became very prosperous. 

It was a bitter cold morning, on the loth day of January, 1883, when oc- 
curred the burning of the Newhall House, one of Milwaukee's finest hotels, and 
which resulted in the loss of nearly one hundred lives. Committees of relief 
were everywhere established to do what could be done for the dead and relieve 
the survivors. Governor Smith was appointed chairman of the relief committee, 
and while serving in this capacity, contracted so severe a cold that pneumonia 
set in, and he died February 13, 1883. This appeared to be the climax of 
that dreadful January morning, when so many human lives were either burned 
or mangled, while attempting to escape the flames. Governor Smith's funeral 
was attended by great sorrow and respect. The legislative and state officers 
were present in bodies, for the purpose of testifying the state's great loss. And 
so ended the life of one of the most faithful workers in the state. He, him- 
self, occupying a high and honorable place in the public community through 
life, lost his life, how? In the service of the poor and needy. 



WISCONSIN'S STATE GOVERNORS. 487 

Events of 1878. 

The thirty-first session of the Wisconsin state legislature, convened [anu- 
ary 9, 1878, and adjourned March 21, 1878. An extra session convened June 
4, 1878, for the purpose of completing the revision of the statutes. This extra 
session adjourned June 7, 1878. 

The state senate was organized with James M. Bingham as president, A. 
J. Turner, chief clerk, and L. J. Brayton, sergeant-at-arms. The assembly 
was constituted as follows: Augustus R. Barrows, speaker; Jabez R. Hunter, 
chief clerk, and Anton Klaus, sergeant-at-arms. 

Governor Smith's message to the legislature was a clean-cut and forcible 
document, which greatly assisted the legislature in the performance of its 
numerous duties. Several hundred bills, amendments and private and local 
laws were passed by this legislature, among the most important of which were 
the following enactments : 

An act to build a i)ier at Green Bay ; an act constituting a board of text 
book examiners; the refunding of bonded indebtedness to counties, cities, etc. ; 
an act prohibiting the adulteration of milk in butter and cheese factories ; acts 
for the preservation offish and game, and repealing the tax on dogs. 

The generosity of the state was well exhibited through its representatives 
in its appropriations to the following institutions : 

Milwaukee Industrial School for (iirls. Institution for the Education of the 
Blind, Northern ^Visconsin Agricultural and Mechanical Association, Indus- 
trial School for Boys, State Agricultural Society, Mineral Point Railroad Com- 
pany, Institution for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb, Manitowoc County 
Agricultural Society, State Fish Commissioners, Eastern Monroe Agricultural 
Society, Northern Hospital for the Insane, State Hospital for the Insane, be- 
sides numerous appropriations to town corporations and individuals, aggregat- 
ing more than $328,000. 

In June, 1878, a cyclone swept through Grant, Iowa, Dane and Jefferson 
counties, eastward, devastating property, and killing about fifteen i)ersons. 
During the year the state was overrun by tramps, who created disturbances at 
various points in the state. In Burnett county an Indian scare prevailed to the 
extent that hundreds of settlers left their homes, on account of large assemblages 
of Indians gathering to hold dances. 

Ex-Ciovernor Coles Bashford died April 25, 1878. 

EvKNTs OF 1879. 

Wisconsin's thirty-second session of its legislature convened January 8, 
1879, and, after being in session fifty-seven days, adjourned on March 5, 1879. 

The senate was organized with James M. Bingham as president, Leander 
B. Hills, chief clerk, and Chalmers Ingersoll, sergeant-at-arms. The assembly 



488 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

was organized with David M. Kelly as speaker, Charles E. Ross, chief clerk, 
and Miletus Knight, sergeant-at-arms. The most interesting feature of this 
legislature was the election of Hon. Matthew H. Carpenter as United States 
senator on January 22, 1879. The election of Mr. Carpenter was considered 
a great victory by the able senator's numerous friends. 

The Republican state convention placed in nomination Governor William 
E. Smith for a second term, James M. Bingham, lieutenant-governor; Hans 
B. Warner, secretary of state; Richard Guenther, state treasurer ; Alexander 
Wilson, attorney-general and William C. Whitford, state superintendent. 

The Democratic state convention placed in nomination the following 
ticket : 

James G. Jenkins, for governor; George H. King, lieutenant-governor ; 
Samuel Ryan, secretary of state; Andrew Haben, state treasurer; J. Mont- 
gomery Smith, attorney-general, and Edward Searing, state superintendent. 

At the November election Governor Smith and the whole Republican 
ticket was elected by majorities exceeding 12,000. At this election the follow- 
ing congressmen were elected as representatives from the eight districts : 
Charles D. Williams, Lucien B. Caswell, George C. Hazelton, Peter V. 
Deuster, Edward S. Bragg, Gabriel Bouck, Herman L. Humphrey and Thad- 

deus C. Pound. 

Events of 1880. 

The thirty-third session of the Wisconsin legislature convened January 14, 
1880, and, after being in session sixty-four days, adjourned March 17, 1880. 

The state senate was organized with Lieutenant-Governor James M. Bing- 
ham as president, Charles E. Bross, chief clerk, and Chalmers Ingersoll, ser- 
geant-at-arms. The assembly was organized with Alexander A. Arnold as 
speaker, John E. Eldred, chief clerk, and D. H. Pulcifer, sergeant-at-arms. 

This legislature, during its brief existence, pas.sed the usual amount of 
amendments to existing statutes, enacted several important general laws, and 
made large appropriations to the various state institutions, among which were 
the following : 

State Hospital for Insane, for current expenses to January i, 1881, 
$ 1 14,500 ; for closets and bath-rooms in wards, $ 1,000 ; for covering steam 
pipes, $1,500; for new floors, $1,500; for new wash basins and sinks, $900; 
for medical library, $500 ; for steam pipes and radiators in the west wing, 
$2,000 ; to the Northern Hospital for Insane, $55,218, for current expenses to 
January i, 1 88 1 ; for procuring a new water supply from Lake Winnebago, 
$15,000; for new pipe and hose for protection against fire, $1,300; for weigh- 
ing .scales, $800 ; for enlarging dry-room, $500; for storm windows, $900; for 
boarding-house, $1,500; to the Wisconsin Horticultural Society, $600; to the 
State Board of Emigration, a sum not exceeding $3,000; to the Institution for 



WISCONSIN'S STATE GOVERNORS. 489 

Education of the Deaf and Dumb, for the purpose of rebuilding a portion of 
the building, the sum of $70,000 ; to the Industrial School for Boys, $19,967 ; 
to the Institution of the Deaf and Dumb, $14,000, and to the Commissioner 
of Fisheries, $2,000. 

On October 19, 1880, the celebrated jurist, and the chief justice of the 
Supreme Court of Wisconsin, Edward G. Ryan, died after a short illness. 

Events of 1881. 

The thirty -fourth session of Wisconsin's legislature convened January 12, 
1881, and adjourned April 4, 1881, after a session of eighty-three days. 

The senate was organized with James M. Bingham, as president, Charles 
K. Bross, chief clerk, and W. W. Baker, sergeant-at-arms. The assembly was 
organized with Ira B. Bradford as speaker, John E. Eldred, chief clerk, and 
G. W. Church, sergeant-at-arms. 

The first important matter which received the attention of the legislature 
was the election of Hon. Philetus Sawyer, the veteran Oshkosh lumberman, to 
the United States senate. This occurred on January 26, 188 1. 

The most important law passed at this session of the legislature was an 
act to submit to the people an amendment of Sees. 4, 5 and 21, Article IV., of 
the constitution of the state, which amendment provided that " the legislature 
shall meet at the seat of government, at such time as shall be provided by law, 
once in two years, and no oftener, unless convened by the governor in special 
session." 

This act was known as the biennial session law, and was submitted to 
the people at the November election, and ratified by a large majority of the 
popular vote. 

In September, 1881, the strike for reduction of labor hours by the Eau 
Claire workmen in the mills at that place necessitated the calling out of the 
national guard by the governor. Some property was injured by the strikers. 
Eight companies of the national guard were stationed there several days. 

The Milwaukee Industrial Exposition was opened to the public during 
September of this year. 

The Republican state convention placed in nomination the following 
ticket: For governor, Jeremiah M. Rusk; lieutenant-governor, Samuel S. 
Fifield; secretary of state, Ernst G. Timme ; state treasurer, Edward C. 
McFetridge; attorney-general, Leander F. Frisby ; state superintendent, 
Robert Graham; railroad commissioner, N. C. Haugen ; commissioner of 
insurance, Phillip L. Si)ooner, Jr. 

The Democratic state convention .placed in nomination Nicholas D. Fratt 
for governor; Wendell A. Anderson, lieutenant-governor; Michael Johnson, 
secretary of state; Frank R. Falk, state treasurer; M. J. Briggs, attorney- 



490 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

general; Ambrose Hoffman, railroad commissioner; Lewis Kemper, commis- 
sioner of insurance. 

At the November election the whole Republican ticket was elected by a 
plurality exceeding ii,ooo. 

At this election the following congressmen were elected to the forty-seventh 

congress: Charles G.Williams, Lucien B. Caswell, George C. Hazelton, Peter 

V. Deuster, Edward S. Bragg, Richard Guenther, H. L. Humphrey, Thaddeus 

C. Pound. 

Death of Senator Carpenter. 

The well-beloved and illustrious senator, Hon. Matt. H. Carpenter, died 
at his home in Washington, on the 24th day of February, 1881. The Hon. 
Charles G. WiUiams, in his memorial address, spoke thus of the closing scene, 
that ushered the renowned senator into another and a better world. 

" It so chanced that with others I spent the night at his bedside, and saw 
him breathe his last. I am aware that the scenes of the death chamber are 
sacred, not to be drawn upon for mere dramatic effect, but there were incidents 
connected with this one which, I think, more fully portray the characteristics 
of the deceased than volumes of eulogy could do. I was told that, some little 
time before, he had wandered slightly in his mind, and in his dreams fancied 
himself back among his Vermont hills again ; that he spoke tenderly, even 
plaintively, of his mother, who died when he was a mere lad, and then for 
minutes together he would fall into deep and fervent prayer. But on this last 
night his brain was clear, and his lion-like nature never more strongly asserted itself. 

"As the shadow deepened and he began to sink, his devoted wife clung to 
him on the one side, while on the other was his loving daughter, and above 
them the pale face of his young son. I noticed that the daughter invariably 
addressed him as 'My boy,' and when near the last she would say: 'Do 
you know Pet, my boy ? ' His great eyes would open, and in a voice modu- 
lated only by affection he would reply : ' Why, of course, I do ; ' and when 
the wife made the same inquiry, always addressing him by the familiar and en- 
dearing term, ' Matt,' the response was the same. Atone time, near midnight, 
when the attending physician had persuaded the family to retire for a while, 
and himself was seeking needed rest, I was left in the room with no one but 
the colored man, Robert, who told me, in a voice stifled with emotion, that he 
had been the senator's body servant for twelve years and more. Having oc- 
casion to go to the parlors below, and returning before I was expected, a most 
impressive scene met my view. The light was low, the senator was sleeping. 
The thick silver locks fell back from his massive forehead. Near him on the 
carpet was the pile of law books which he had ordered from the office and 
studied in his last case, while at the foot of the bed the colored man, Robert, 
knelt in silent prayer. This is fact, not fancy, and it tells the whole story." 



WISCONSIN'S STATE GOVERNORS. 491 

Judge Arthur Mc Arthur, who was present at the senator's death, speaks 
in this language of the decline and death of this great man : 

"The death of a great man is nearly always sudden, unexpected and ap- 
palling. He lives so much in the public eye, and is interwoven so much with 
the public life, that what belongs to the individual is overlooked in the com- 
mon interest and admiration, and when his death occurs, it comes upon us 
like a tropical sunset — sudden, mstantaneous, involving us in darkness and de- 
spair. This was in some measure true in regard to the demise of Senator 
Carpenter. Those who were intimate with him had for many months observed 
a marked change in his appearance ; his magnificent person was losing its 
fullness of habit; the lu.ster of his merry eye, the cadence of his ringing laugh, 
were impaired and overcast with the coming shadow. Fits of indisposition 
were alternated with periods of apparently returning health, and hope and 
friendship recovered confidence and abandoned all fears for his safety. 

"On the afternoon of Wednesday, I visited at his residence and stood by 
his bedside, where he was then asleep. I saw a dreadful change had happened ; 
the end was written upon his face, and then for the first time I gave up all 
hope. Upon calling later in the evening, I found his respiration j)ainful and 
laborious, and it seemed as if his life were struggling to retain its dominion in 
every breath. A torpor had seized upon his countenance, but his attention 
could be aroused to particular persons and objects. Placing my hand upon 
his shoulders, and gently shaking him, I asked him if he knew me. After a 
second he replied, 'It is the Judge;' and after another short pause, he added, 
'Mrs. Carpenter and I have been talking of going over to see you;' and then, 
as if his old spirit of humor and merriment had returned, he said, 'Judge, I 
want to make a motion ;' to which I replied that the motion was granted with- 
out argument. 

"An hour or two after midnight I was again by his bedside. He was still 
weaker than before, and the vital forces were yielding slowly but surely to the 
impending catastrophe. The last indication of consciousness occurred shortly 
before daybreak, when he slowly turned his head toward Mrs. Carpenter and 
his daughter. It was his last effort at recognition, and he closed his eyes 
never again to behold his loved ones on earth. 

"At this time there were present, his wife, daughter and son. Dr. Fox, 
who h§.d traveled night and day from Milwaukee, and who supplemented 
science with friendship and love, was also present, as was the Hon. Charles G. 
Williams. As the members of his own family sat by the bedside of him they 
loved so dearly, it seemed to me the most beautiful, the most sad and touching 
tableau I had ever witnessed. At length daybreak broke through the crevices 
of the curtains, the sun came forth in unclouded splendor, and the atmos- 
phere was balmy as in the early days of spring. It was full of the elixir of life. 



492 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

but brought no relief to our friend. Leading Mrs. Carpenter to the window, 
I asked her if she could remember the dying expressions of the great Mirabeau, 
whom her husband so much resembled in his powers of persuasion. 'Open 
the windows,' he exclaimed. 'Throw aside the curtains and let the sunshine 
fill the apartment and bathe me in its beams, and let the incense of the garden 
reach my senses, for I would die amidst the perfume of its flowers.' 'How 
different,' I said to her, 'is this scene in one respect, for the great Frenchman, 
though he feared not death, believed it to be an eternal sleep. But your 
gifted husband, although so largely absorbed in the activities of life, and al- 
though taking such large share in public business, had a strong and fruitful 
rehgious vein in his nature, and believed that death, instead of being our final 
destiny, was but the entrance into a higher and truer life.' 

"At about nine o'clock, Dr. Fox called me suddenly to the bedside. The 
breathing had almost ceased, the quick respiration had entirely gone. The 
breath came at long intervals, and the attending clergyman began reading the 
solemn service of the Episcopal church for the dying. The physician kept 
his hand upon the heart to mark the ebbing tide of life. I looked at the doctor 
after each spasm, and the reply was, 'Not yet.' At last came a pause — 
long, endless. The physician withdrew his hand. Carpenter was dead." 

Matt H. Carpenter was the son of Ira Carpenter and Esther Ann Luce- 
Carpenter. He was born in the very heart of Vermont, at Moretown, in the 
center of Washington county, on December 22, 1824. 

The Funeral. 

The funeral of Senator Carpenter, which was held in Washington, was one 
of the largest ever held in that city, and was extremely impressive and sorrow- 
ful. It was held at 2:30 o'clock Sunday afternoon, February 27, 1881, at the 
Carpenter residence on Connecticut Avenue. Members of the cabinet, judges 
of the Uniied States supreme court, diplomatic officials, members of congress, 
and many distinguished citizens from Wisconsin, Vermont, New York, Illinois, 
and other states were present. 

The pall-bearers appointed from both houses of congress were Angus 
Cameron, Roscoe Conkling, George H. Pendleton, John A. Logan, F. M. 
Cockrell, Charles G. Williams, George C. Hazelton, Horace F. Page, J. Ran- 
dolph Tucker and E. G. Lapham. 

The ceremonies at the residence consisted of the impressive burial service 
of the Episcopal church. While the bells of St. John's church rang out their 
sweet but sad vespers for the dead, the procession moved to Oak Hill Ceme- 
tery. At the cemetery prayers were read, and the cofiin, strewn with fragrant 
flowers, by the dead senator's daughter, was consigned to the vault to await 
its final interment in Wisconsin. 



WISCONSIN'S STATE GOVERNORS. 493 

Six weeks later, the United States senate adjourned, especially for the 
purpose of honoring the dead, and attending the funeral cortege to its last rest- 
ing place in Wisconsin. The congressional ])all-l)earers, the family and nu- 
merous friends, left A\'ashington on a special train, with the dead, on Friday, 
April 8. (Governor William E. Smith, of Wisconsin, a legislative committee, 
and about one hundred members of committees from the Chamber of Com- 
merce, Milwaukee bar, and other organizations met the funeral train at Chi- 
cago, and accompanied it to Milwaukee. At the depot in Milwaukee, a large 
procession of military and civic societies joined the procession, and led the way 
to the court house, where the casket was consigned to the care of the local 
committees, by Hon. Roscoe Conkling, who said : 

"GovKRNOR — ^Ve are deputed by the senate of the United States to 
bring back the ashes of Wisconsin's illustrious son, and reverently and tenderly 
return them to the great commonwealth he served so faithfully and loved so 
well. To Wisconsin the pale and sacred clay belongs, but the memory and 
the fame of Matthew Hale Carpenter are the nation's treasures, and long will 
the sisterhood of states mourn the bereavement which bows all hearts to-day." 

The body lay in state in the rotunda of the court house, heavily draped 
in mourning, with the Sheridan Guards as a guard of honor. Early Sunday 
morning, on April lo, 1881, the court house doors were thrown open and 
before 2 o'clock nearly fifty thousand persons had viewed for the last time their 
beloved leader, neighbor and friend. The funeral procession contained the 
entire legislature, state officers, members of the supreme court, several military 
companies, and a large number of civic societies. The line marched to Forest 
Home Cemetery, where the last sad rites were performed. 

EVEN'IS OF 1884. 

On December 1st, the building at the State University, known as Science 
hall, was burned to the ground. 

At the Republican state convention, the following ticket was placed in 
nomination: For governor, Jeremiah M. Rusk; lieutenant-governor, Sam. S. 
Fifield ; secretary of state, Ernst G. Timme; state treasurer, Edward McFet- 
ridge; attorney-general, Leander F, Frisby ; state superintendent, Robert 
Graham; railroad commissioner. Nils P. Haugen ; commissioner of insurance, 
Phillip L. Spooner, Jr. 

The Democratic state convention placed in nomination the following ticket : 
Governor, Nicholas D. Fratt ; lieutenant-governor, A. C. Parkinson; secretary 
of state, Hugh (i. (iallagher; state treasurer, Frank R. Falk ; attorney-general, 
Willis C. Silverthorn ; state superintendent, Isaac Stewart; railroad commis- 
sioner, Conrad Krez ; commissioner of insurance, Ole S. Holum. 

At the November election the whole Republican ticket was elected. Gov- 
ernor Rusk's ]ilurality being 19,269. 



494 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

The Wisconsin members of the forty-eighth congress were John Winans, 
Daniel H, Sumner, Burr W.Jones, Peter V. Deuster, Joseph Rankin, Richard 
Guenther, Gilbert M. Woodward, WiUiam T. Price, Isaac Stephenson. 

Events of 1885. 

The thirty-seventh session of the Wisconsin legislature, which was the first 
biennial legislature, convened January 14, 1885, and adjourned April 13, 1885, 
after a session of eighty-nine days. 

The senate was organized with Lieutenant-Governor Sam. S. Fifield as 
president, Charles E. Bross, chief clerk, and Hubert Wolcott, sergeant-at-arms. 
The assembly was organized with Hiram O. Fairchild as speaker, E. D. Coe, 
chief clerk, and John M. Ewing, sergeant-at-arms. 

On January 28th, John C. Spooner was elected United States senator. 

Events of 1886. 

This year was noted for its labor troubles at Milwaukee. The workmen, 
principally at Bay View, organized a strike to enforce the eight hour system. 
On May 3d, 4th and 5th, they became riotous, and on the last day named, 
refused to obey the authorities. They were fired upon by the national guards, 
under instructions from Governor Rusk, and several were either killed or 
wounded. 

In October, the limited express on the C, M. & St. P. Ry. was wrecked 
at East Rio, Columbia county, and from eleven to fifteen persons killed, many 
being burned to death. 

The Republican state convention nominated the following persons : For 
governor, Jeremiah M. Rusk; lieutenant-governor, George W, Ryland; sec- 
retary of state, Ernst G. Timme ; state treasurer, Henry B. Harshaw ; attor- 
ney-general, Charles E. Esterbrook; state superintendent, Jesse B. Thayer; 
railroad commissioner, Atley Peterson ; commissioner of insurance, PhiHp 
Cheek, Jr. 

The Democratic state convention made the following nominations: For 
governor, Gilbert M. Woodward ; lieutenant-governor, John D. Putnam ; sec- 
retary of state, John C. Ludwig ; state treasurer, John A. Johnson; attorney- 
general, George W. Bird; state superintendent, f^dward McLoughHn ; rail- 
road commissioner, James Meehan; commissioner of insurance, John Karel. 

The whole RepubHcan ticket was elected by a large majority, Mr. Rusk's 
plurality being 18,718. 

Wisconsin's representatives in the forty-ninth congress were Lucien B. 
Caswell, Edward S. Bragg, Robert M. La FoUette, Isaac W, Van Schaick, 
Joseph Rankin, T. R. Hudd, Richard Guenther, Ormsby B. Thomas, William 
T. Price, Hugh H. Price and Isaac Stephenson. 



WISCONSIN'S STATE GOVERNORS. 495 

Hon. Joseph Rankin died, January 24, 1886, and T. R. Hudd, his suc- 
cessor, was elected to fill the vacancy on January 18, 1887. Hon. Wilham T. 
Price died January 7, 1886, and Hugh H. Price was elected January 18, 
1887, to fill the vacancy. 

Events of 1887. 

The thirty-eighth session of the legislature convened January 12, 1887, and 
adjourned April 15, 1887. 

The senate was organized with Lieutenant-Governor George W. Ryland, 
as president, Charles E. Bro.ss, chief-clerk, and T. J. George, sergeant-at-arms. 
The assembly was organized with Thomas B. Mills, speaker, E. D. Coe, 
chief clerk, and William A. Adamson, sergeant-at-arms. 

On January 26th, the legislature elected the Hon. Philetus Sawyer, as 
United States senator to succeed himself. 

This year was principally noted throughout the state as being the great 
booming year in Gogebic iron stocks. 

Events ok 1888. 

The Gogebic iron stocks having reached a high figure, a reaction set in, 
causing a collapse in these stocks, which resulted in the failure of many stock 
speculators throughout the state and elsewhere. 

The Republican state convention, this fall, made the following nomina- 
tions : For governor, William D. Hoard ; lieutenant-governor, George W. 
Ryland; secretary of state, Ernst G. Timme; state treasurer, Henry B. Har- 
shaw; attorney-general, Charles E. Esterbrook; state superintendent, Jesse B. 
Thayer; railroad commissioner, Atley Peterson; commissioner of insurance, 
Philip Cheek, Jr. 

The Democratic state convention placed in nomination the following 
ticket : For governor, James Morgan ; lieutenant-governor, Andrew KuU ; sec- 
retary of state, August C. Larson; state treasurer, Theodore Kersten ; attor- 
ney-general, Timothy E. Ryan; state superintendent, Amos Squire; 
railroad commissioner, Herman Naber; commissioner of insurance, Evan W. 
Evans. 

The next November election resulted in the election of the entire Re- 
publican ticket, Mr. Hoard's plurality being 20,273. 

Wisconsin's representatives in the fiftieth congress were as follows: L. l>. 
Caswell, Richard Guenther, Robert La Follette, Henry Smith, T. R. Hudd, 
C. B. Clark, Ormsby B. Thomas, Nils P. Haugen and Isaac Stephenson. 




J 



Chapter LXIV. 



Administration of Govkrnor Rusk. 



1882— 1889. 

Biograpliical Skelcli of Jereiiiiali M. Rusk. — Ini])oilant K\ents During His Incumbency. 



Prop.ablv the strongest and most pronounced character yet chosen for 
governor of Wisconsin was Jeremiah M. Rusk. He was born in Morgan 
county, Ohio, on the 17th day of June, 1830, of Scottish ancestry. His 
early education was principally derived from nature. His physical and mental 

strength he gained from out-door ex- 
ercise, plain food and a thorough deter- 
mination to succeed. Under these fa- 
vorable conditions he was well adapted 
for the great future which lay undisturbed 
before him. 

He was Init fourteen years of age when 
his father died, leaving him, a mere boy, 
to battle with the world m order to help 
support his mother and two sisters. For 
this reason, at the age of fifteen, he 
sought work, and at last found a place 
as driver of a four-horse stage between 
Zanesville and Newark. Passionately 
lond of horses, he soon became an ex- 
pert in horsemanshi}), an accomplish- 
ment of which he was very proud. 
He next learned the cooper's trade, and, 
although he did not work at his trade fof 
any great length of time, still, it is said, he could set up a l)arrel as well as the 
best in the trade. 

He was married at the early age of nineteen, and settled on a farm in Vernon 
county in 1853, at which place he resided up to the time of his death. His good 
sense and shrewdness made him a favorite among the people, and he was soon 
placed at the head of public affairs. In 1855, Mr. Rusk was made sheriff of his 
adopted county, and was one of the best sheriffs the county has ever known. In 
November, 186 1, he was elected to the legislature, and in this position did all he 
could to further appropriate war measures. At the end of his term, "Jerry," 
as he was familiarly known throughout the country, turned his entire attention 

497 




498 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

to the war. He was commissioned major of the Twenty-fifth regiment. After 
serving but a short time he was promoted to the colonelcy, and in this capacity 
served with General Sherman from Vicksburg to the close of the war. He was 
brevetted brigadier-general because of his bravery at the battle of Salkehatchie. 
General Rusk's popularity as a soldier was well known. He never ordered 
his boys to go, but always led them himself, and bade them " come on." He 
was brave, courageous and decided, and when McPherson fell Rusk's com- 
mand was at the front. He lost one-third of his men in this engagement. Rusk 
himself was completely cut off from his men and surrounded by the rebel 
forces, armed with saber-bayonets. The enemy ordered him to surrender, but 
General Rusk, his sword having been lost, drew his pistol, and used it with 
such good effect that he was able to reach his own ranks, v/ith only a slight 
wound on his leg, and the loss of his sword and horse, the latter being com- 
pletely riddled with bullets. 

In 1866 Mr. Rusk was elected bank comptroller, which office he held for 
four years. Then he was elected to the Forty-second, Forty-third and Forty- 
fourth congresses. He was here, as in every other position, active and useful. 
It was in 1881 that Garfield appointed him minister to Paraguay and Den- 
mark, both of which positions he declined, as well as others that were ten- 
dered to him. 

In November of 1881, being prompted by the jests of Governor Foster, of 
Ohio, he decided to go home and run for governor of Wisconsin. There were 
several candidates in the field at the time of his arrival in Wisconsin, but this 
did not discourage him. His ability and intellectual dexterity made him very 
pleasing to the people in general, as was fully illustrated in his re-election of 
1884, and his again being re-elected in 1886. He served longer as chief execu- 
tive of the State of Wisconsin, than any other man — seven years — this was done 
in order to make all offices begin with the even numbered years. 

It was during Rusk's administration that the farmers' institutes were 
organized; the bureau of labor and industrial statistics established; the office 
of state veterinary surgeon established with absolute authority to control and 
condemn diseased horses and cattle, and preserve the general health of domes- 
tic animals; a state pension agent was appointed ; the north and south wings 
of the capitol, and the state school for dependent children at Sparta, and the 
science hall of the state university were built. 

In 1888, Jeremiah M. Rusk was made a presidential candidate by the 
Wisconsin delegation. In March, 1889, he was made secretary of agriculture 
by President Harrison, which position he filled with honor until the expiration 
of his term, which expired with the Harrison administration, on March 4, 1893. 

Jeremiah M. Rusk was a tall, well-built man, standing six feet and two 
inches. He was massive in frame, agile and quick in his movements, and of 



WISCONSIN'S STATE GOVERNORS. 499 

a remarkable appearance. He occupied no public position since he was sec- 
retary of agriculture under Harrison, but was mentioned as a prominent candi- 
date for the presidency in 1889. This noted man died at his home in 
Viroqua, on November 21, 1893, after an illness of several weeks. 

Events of 1882. 

The thirty-fifth session of the Wisconsin state legislature convened Janu- 
ary II, 1882, and adjourned March 31, 1882, after a session of eighty days. 

The senate was organized with Lieutenant-Governor Samuel F. Fifield, as 
l)resident ; Charles E. Bross, chief clerk, and A. T. Glaze, sergeant-at-arms. 
The assembly was organized with Franklin L. Gibson as speaker; E. D. Coe, 
chief clerk, 1). E. Welch, sergeant-at-arms. 

Governor Rusk's first annual message was delivered to the legislature, 
Thursday, January 12, 1882. It contained methodical, clear and concise 
statements, treating upon the financial aftairs of the state, embracing the school 
fund income, university fund, agricultural and normal school funds and the 
drainage, delinquent tax, and deposit fund. 

The govorner's report upon the state debt, expenditures and revenues are 
as follows : 

"STATE DEBT. 

"The distribution of the bonded debt of the state, September 30, 1881, 
was as follows : 

War bonds outstanding $ 2,000 00 

Certificates of indebtedness 2,250,000 00 

Currency certificates 57 00 

Total 2,252,057 00 

"And, in addition to this, there was on the ist day of January, i'882, a 
deficiency for the care of the state charitable and penal institutions as shown by 
the report of the board of supervision, of $55, 944.82 and a claim of the 
United States against the state for $206,133.04, making a total of $2,514,134.86. 

"EXPENDITURES AND REVENUES. 

"The Secretary of State makes the following estimate of the expenditures to 
be defrayed from the treasury during the year beginning January i, 1883 : 

"EXPENDITURES. 

Salaries and permanent appropriations $ 227,730 50 

Legislative expenses 95)750 00 

Interest on state indebtedness 164,588 36 

Charitable and penal institutions 235,000 00 

Clerks and employes '. 62,000 00 

Miscellaneous.. 262,000 00 

Total expenditures ,.., $1,047,068 86 



500 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

''REVENUES. 

License and fees $562,700 00 

Taxes authorized ])y law 234,368 86 

Total revenues $797,068 86 

"This estimate shows that it will be necessary for this legislature to provide 
the sum of $250,000, and I would recommend that the amount is reasonable 
and proper." 

Thegovernoralsoreminded the legislature ofthe increasing number of chronic 
insane, and suggested that proper steps be taken to properly care for and treat 
these unfortunates. In that portion of the message treating upon the educa- 
tional affairs, the attendance of children at all public schools within the state, 
for the year of 1880, was reported at 483,229, and in 188 1, was 489,142, 
an increase of 5,913, which indicated that Northern Wisconsin was rapidly 
being settled. The total valuation ofthe school property in the state was esti- 
mated at $5,543,049.61. The total amount expended during the year of 1881, 
was $2,302,038.34, or $6.97 for each person attending school. The amount 
expended on each pupil in 1880, was $7.24, and the previous year, $7.44. 

The governor, in this important message, also called the attention of the 
legislature to the report of Professor Henry's estimate, that syrup could be 
made in this state at the rate of one hundred and eighty gallons per acre of 
amber cane, and recommended that an appropriation be made for the purpose 
of printing the professor's report and the distribution ofthe same. 

This message complimented the able and efficient management of the 
State Historical Society by its officers. In referring to this important subject, 
the governor said : 

"The State Historical Society has been ably managed. From a very 
small beginning, it has grown to be a large institution of peculiar interest to the 
people ofthe state. It is regarded as one ofthe most complete collections of 
its class in the United States, and is worthy of the fostering care of the state. 
I would recommend to the legislature that they provide a suitable building for 
the use ofthe society, separate from the capitol. Its present quarters are en- 
tirely inadequate to its wants, and the rooms it now occupies are needed for 
the convenience of the legislature. In such a building suitable room should 
be provided for the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters." 

The state board of health, railroads, insurance, fish culture, immigration, 
the Wisconsin National Guard, the Industrial School for Girls, and the state 
apportionment all received proper attention by the worthy governor, who con- 
cluded his message in this language : 

"I have thus briefly called your attention to such matters as seem, in my 
judgment, to be for the welfare of the state. The people expect economy in 



WISCONSIN'S STATE GOVERNORS. 501 

expenditures, and will hold all public officers to a strict accountability for all 
of their transactions. With grateful hearts to the Supreme Ruler of the uni- 
verse for all the blessings we enjoy, and a firm reliance upon Him for our 
future guidance, let us proceed to the discharge of the duties imposed upon us 
by the constitution and the laws." 

Ex-Governor Cadwallader C. Washburn died at the age of sixty-four years, 
at Eureka Springs, Arkansas, on May 14, 1882. 

EvF.NTS OF 1883. 

The thirty-sixth session of the legislature convened January 10, 1883, and 
adjourned April 4, 1883, after a session of eighty-five days. 

The senate was organized with Lieutenant-Governor Samuel F. Fifield as 
president, Charles E. Bross, chief clerk, and A. D. Thorpe, sergeant-at-arms. 
The assembly was organized with Earl P. Finch as speaker, I. T. Carr, chief 
clerk, and Thomas Kennedy, sergeant-at-arms. 

On January loth, the Newhall House at Milwaukee burned. Many per- 
sons perished, either in the flames or in leaping from the ujjper stories of the 
building. The death loss has been estimated at from seventy to one hundred. 
The following chapter gives a detailed history of the terrible conflagration. 

On March 25th, Hon. Timothy O. Howe, postmaster-general, died at 
Racine. 

On November 8th, the south wing of the capitol extension at Madison, 
which was in progress of construction, fell, killing seven workmen, and injur- 
ing numerous others. 

February 23d, Ex-Governor William E. Smith died from pneumonia con- 
tracted while acting in the capacity of chairman of the relief committee, ap- 
pointed to look after the Newhall sufiferers. 

At the congressional election held in November, 1883, the following mem- 
bers of congress were elected to represent the state in the forty-seventh con- 
gress, to-wit : 

John Winans, Richard Guenther, D. H. Sumner, Gilbert M. Woodward, 
Burr W. Jones, William T. Price, Peter V. Deuster, Isaac Stephenson, Jose])h 
Rankin. 



Chapter LXV. 

THE NEWHALL HOUSE FIRE. 

Milwaukee's Weil-Known Motel Burns. — Horrible Death of Many of its Inmates. — 
Miraculous Escapes. — Deeds of Brave Men. — Sad Fate of the Heroine, Katie Linehan. — 
Public Funeral and Inquest. 

"Not a sound rose from the city at that early morning hour, 
But I heard a heart of iron beating in the ancient tower." 

The guests at the Newhall House, one of the largest and best appointed 
hotels in the Northwest, located on the corner of Michigan street and Broadway, 
in Milwaukee, had retired upon the evening of the 9th of January, 1883, and 
in the early hours of the loth, little suspecting that this almost palatial hotel 
would, within a few hours, be the funeral pyre of many of its inmates, and the 
scene of indescribable horror. 

"At my feet the city slumbered. From its chimneys, here and there. 
Wreaths of snow-white smoke ascending, vanished, ghost-like, into air." 

Shortly after four o'clock an alarm was sent from Box No. 15, to the fire 
department, and in a few moments the department was at the scene of the 
disaster. The fire alarm which was sounded awoke many of the citizens of 
Milwaukee, to witness one of the most horrible casualties ever recorded in the 
history of the Northwest. 

The first alarm called out Engines No. 2 and No. 5, Hook and Ladder 
Truck No. 3, Supply Hose No. i, and a chemical engine. In less than two 
minutes from the time the engines left their headquarters, they arrived at the 
scene of destruction, yet, upon their arrival, flames were darting out through 
the windows on Michigan street, near the corner of Broadway, and the fright- 
ened guests were already jumping from the upper windows to the pavement 
below. 

Engine No. i took water from the hydrant on the corner of Michigan street 
and Broadway, opposite the hotel, while Truck No. i stopped in front of the 
hotel and sent in two chemical extinguishers to fight the flames m the elevator 
shaft. Foreman Riemer, of Truck No. i, investigating the condition of the 
fire in the elevator shaft, at once perceived that the fire was burning furiously 
as far up as the third story. He immediately ordered the chemical extinguish- 
ers back to the truck and the men to the ladders. A ladder twenty feet long 
was placed against the burning building, which bore two firemen to the first 



504 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

balcony with a ladder twenty-four feet long. The second ladder was now 
raised from the balcony to the third story. On these two ladders, which 
reached forty-four feet, seven persons were saved from various rooms in the 
third story. Work with these ladders was now abandoned, and the extension 
ladder, with a reach of sixty-five feet, was brought into use from Truck No. i. 
It was set up against the building, and one man came safely down over it. 
An effort was made by the firemen to move the ladder over to where Allen 
Johnson and his wife were standing in a window facing Broadway, but the 
ladder came in contact with a projection of the building. The endless chain 
jumped from the pinion, causing the upper section of the ladder to come down 
with a crash, hopelessly disabling it. The remainder of the fire department 
had now arrived and entered actively upon the work of rescue. The seven 
fire-engines had been located, and were pouring water into the building 
through ten nozzles, without any apparent result. A piece of canvas fifteen 
feet square with eight handles on each side was also brought into use, to catch 
jumpers. This device was not so great a success as was anticipated. 

Frightened Inmates Leap to Death. 

While the first ladders were being raised against the buildmg, W. H. Hall, 
of La Porte, Indiana, who occupied a room on the fourth floor, adjoin- 
ing that of Martin Weber, his business partner, became excited and un- 
dertook to climb down on the window caps and sashes, and had succeeded 
in reaching the third story, when he slipped and fell to the pavement, 
receiving fatal injuries. Mrs. Allen Johnson, shortly after the extension 
ladder became damaged, jumped or fell, and struck the balcony rail- 
ing, and from there fell to the pavement below. She was taken to the 
American Express Ofiice in a dying condition. Mr. Johnson still stood at the 
window awaiting assistance, while the firemen protected him from the flames 
by a stream of water. Firemen Curtin and Riemer requested Mr. Johnson 
not to jump, as another ladder was being brought to rescue him, but the excited 
people below denounced the advice given by the firemen and frantically cried, 
"Jump ! jump !" Mr. Johnson, who was now hanging outward against the 
north side of the window facing Broadway, released his hold on the casing and 
jumped, striking the edge of the canvas with such force that it was torn from 
the grasp of those who were attempting to hold it, and he heavily struck the 
pavement, receiving fatal injuries. He, too, was taken to the American 
Express Oftice and placed beside his dying wife. Mrs. Johnson survived her 
husband by about one hour. Immediately after Mr. Johnson had made his 
jump to death. Foreman Curtin turned toward the alley and was there met by 
William Linehan, fireman of the hotel, who implored him to bring ladders to the 
alley and rescue the servant girls, who were jumping from their quarters in the 



THE NEWHALL HOUSE FIRK. 



505 



fifth story. The extension ladders were at once hurried to the alley of death. 
The scene here was a frightful one. So frightful indeed that the firemen were 
appalled for a moment. There, upon the cobble stones in the alley, lay the 
mangled forms of eleven girls. The bodies of the poor victims were removed. 
A ladder had been ordered placed across the alley from an opposite building, 
and was successfuliy rescuing the girls. One ladder was placed against the 
fire-escape, near the corner of Broadway, and another over the Michigan street 
entrance. Many people escaped down these ladders in safety. While the 
brave firemen were busy, the frenzied guests and servants were jumjjing to 
certain destruction. The mangled bodies of the unfortunates were hurried 
from under the now tottering walls of the doomed building by the spectators, 
who carried them into the American Express Office, the Chamber of Commerce, 
and into the Stanley and Camp jewelry store, on the corner of Wisconsin street 
and Broadway. In one of the windows on the fifth floor, facing Michigan street, 
stood John Gilbert, an actor, and his young bride. They had been married 
the previous morning, at Chicago, and had come on to Milwaukee to join the 
threatrical troupe to which Mr. Gilbert belonged. They both jumped. Mrs. 
(iilbert was instantly killed ; her husband received severe injuries, but recovered. 
His real name is Uonahoe. When his mother went in search of her son's 
young wife, it was indeed a pitiful sight. The weeping, aged woman, search- 
ing eagerly among the mangled forms at the morgue, brushing back the matted 
hair from the pale foreheads, and anxiously examining every feature of the 
ghastly faces. Three times she believed she had found her daughter-in-law, 
and three times was she mistaken. At last she identified the same body which 
Mr. John R. Rogers, manager of the Minnie Palmer Company, had identified 
as Mrs. Gilbert; on the body was found a bright new wedding ring, making the 
identification still stronger. The body was turned over to her friends. 

T. B. Elliott, of the law firm of Jenkins, Ellliott and Winkler, had been 
attending an I. 0.0. F. reception at Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. He was 
urged to stay, but declining, took a late train for Milwaukee, and was the last 
to arrive at the ill-fated hotel. His room was on the fifth floor. He was not 
asleep very long before he awoke, because of the smoke. He immediately 
rushed to the window and jumped, striking on the balcony. His injuries 
were fatal. He was taken to the Kirby House. 

Walter H. Scott, an employe of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Rail- 
way, occupying the room next to Mr. Elliott, also jumped to the pavement. 
He was taken to the American Express Office and there died. D. G,. Powers, 
real estate agent and inventor, jumped from his room in the sixth story and 
was killed. His head and face were burned, which showed that he had either 
tried to escape through the hall, or that the fire had penetrated his chamber 
and forced him to jump. His body was taken to the morgue, where it was 
claimed by friends. 



5o6 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

Judson J. Hough, of Maroa, Illinois, the special agent of the North- 
western National Insurance Company, and a nephew of Allen Johnson, had a 
room on the fifth floor. When first noticed he was astride the ornamental cap 
of the window just below his own room. The fire broke out of the window 
below him, the cruel flames licking his person, until he was obliged to loose his 
hold and drop. He struck the balcony, receiving injuries from which he 
died. 

Probably the most touching sight was the death of Miss Libbie A. Chellis, 
head dressmaker in T. A. Chapman's dry goods store. Her room was in the 
sixth story, facing Broadway. When the hotel was wrapped in flames, she 
appeared at her window, and sinking upon her knees, raised her eyes to 
Heaven, as though beseeching for Divine assistance. Her friends below urged 
her to jump, but she heeded not, remaining in her kneeling position until the 
flames wrapped themselves around her, and carried her backward in their un- 
releasing clasp. Her body was not identified, being burned beyond recog- 
nition. 

During the excitement of the conflagration, no thought was given to the 
hotel register, and when at last it was thought of and looked for in the safe, 
was not to be found. Through this reason it will never be known exactly how 
many lost their lives in the terrible Newhall fire. 

In many parts of the ruins, when the clearing away of the debris had 
begun, were found heaps of pure white ash, which was evidence that many 
persons were wholly incinerated. How many will never be known. Twenty- 
eight victims of the terrible fire were identified, while forty-three were uniden- 
tified. The names of the unidentified were given by Ben K. Tice and John 
H. Antisdel, clerks at the hotel, from memory. Seven names could not be 

recalled. 

List of Identified. 

Mrs. L. W. Brown, Mrs. John E. Gilbert, Mary Conroy, Mary Mc- 
Mahon, Mary McDade, Mary Anderson, Ottillie Waltersdorf, Bessie Brown, 
Kattie Linehan, Mrs. Allen Johnson, Julia F. Groesbeck (known as Bleeker), 
Lizzie Anglin, Mary Miller, David H. Martelle, Maggie Sullivan, Augusta 
Giese, Bridget O'Connell, Julia Fogerty, Anna Hager, Walter H. Scott, Thos. 
E. Van Loon, David G. Power, Allen Johnson, Judson J. Hough, Theo. B. 
Elliott, Robert Howie, William C. Wiley, Wm. H. Hall. 

List of Unidentified. 

Libbie A. Chellis, Nora Flanagan, Rosa Burns, Annie McMahon, Mar- 
garet Owens, Mary Owens, Lizzie Kelly, Jane Dunn, Ann Casey, Augusta 
Trapp, Kate Monahan, Amelia Krause, Maggie Finnegan, Kate Connors, 
Mary Burke, Martha Schloessner, J. Bradford Kellogg, Richard Goggin, Q. 



THE NEVVHALL HOUSE FIRE. 507 

C. Brown, Geo. G. Smith, Judge Geo. Reed, Capt. Jas. P. Vose, L. K. 
Smith, J. H. Foley, Prof. B. Mason, Geo. I-.owry, Just Haak, W. E. Fullmer, 
Emil Geisler, Fred Barker, Walter Gillon, William Gillon, Daniel Moynahan, 
Gust Fredericks, Ernst Schoenbucher, C. Kelsey. 

MiRACULOu.s Escapes. 

S. A. Grant and E. Erickson, of Palmyra, Wi.sconsin, had a narrow es- 
cape from their rooms on the fourth floor. Mr. Erickson was awakened by 
the confusion in the hall, and, jumping out of bed, he called Mr. Grant, his 
room-mate, saying, "that the house was on fire." Opening the door, he 
found the hall filled with hot air and smoke, with the fire about forty feet away. 
He returned and the companions quickly dressed, even putting on their over- 
coats. They then went to the window and called for help. Looking down 
Erickson saw the cast-iron cap on top of the window below projecting out and 
upward. This projection was only a few feet below him. Holding to the 
window sash in his own room, he stepped down on the iron cap and swung himself 
to the center of the window and broke it with his feet, and shouted to his com- 
panion to follow him. Letting go with one hand, he grasped the window .sash 
below, then releasing the other hand he held to the center bar of the sash, and 
dropped to the window sill below, and in this manner he swung himself to the 
next window cap, repeating the operation down three stories until he came to 
the dining-room on the second floor. From this place he escaped by means of 
a tablecloth and the telegraph wires into the basement below. His compan- 
ion, Grant, instead of following him, ran twenty or thirty feet in the hall, when 
he was driven back by the fierce flames. He now broke open the door of a 
room, rushed to the wmdow and called to his companion, Erickson, who di- 
rected him to descend as he was doing. Grant did as he was advised, and 
thus saved his life. 

Sylvester Bleeker, the manager of the Tom Thumb Company, and wife, 
occupied a room in the fourth story, directly over those occupied by Tom 
Thumb and wife. Mr. Bleeker tied strips of bed clothes together and began to 
lower his wife to the balcony below. After being lowered some little distance, 
she lost her hold and fell to the balcony, receiving injuries from w hich she 
afterwards died. Mr. Bleeker succeeded in climbing down also to the balcony, 
from whence he safely passed over a ladder to the pavement below. 

1 . W. Brown and wife occupied a room on the fifth floor, of the Ikoad- 
way front. Mrs. Brown was awake at the time and clothed, awaiting the hour 
for the departure of an early train. Mr. Brown w-as still in bed. Mrs. Brown 
heard the alarm in the halls, and thinking she heard the roar of flames, urged 
her husband to investigate the cause. Mr. Brown merely placed his hand on 
the wall, and jokingly remarked, " that heat usually accompanied a fire, and 



5o8 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

that the wall was cold." The noise having become greater each moment, 
Mrs. Brown prevailed on her husband to investigate the cause, which he did by 
opening the door into the hall. The flames were then a foot above the floor, 
near the elevator shaft, and in close proximity to their room. After dressing in 
a hurried manner, Mr. Brown and his wife attempted to leave the room, by way 
of the hall, but the flames now made it impossible. Tearing up the sheets and 
blankets, he soon made a rope, which he let down to the balcony. Tying the 
hastily improvised line to a sewing machine, Mr. Brown endeavored to per- 
suade his wife to lower herself to the balcony, three stories below, but she was 
afraid to trust herself on so frail a rope. In order to assure her, Mr. Brown 
swung out and reached the balcony in safety, his wife having promised that in 
the event of his success, she would immediately follow. While suspended on 
the rope and before reaching the balcony, a dark object shot swiftly past him. 
It was Mrs. Brown, who had jumped to death. 

W. C. Wiley, of Detroit, and W. R. Busenbark, of Chicago, roomed on 
the fourth floor, facing Michigan street. They were awakened by the roar of 
the fire, and after endeavoring to escape by way of the hall, Mr. Busenbark 
jumped from the window upon the telegraph wires, the recoil of which 
threw him off and he fell to the street, receiving a number of bad cuts 
and some severe injuries. His companion, Mr. Wiley, perished in the hall. 
James McAlpine, Andrew Hardy and J. R, Duval roomed in the sixth story, 
on the north side. The windows of their room opened above the roof of Sher- 
man's photograph gallery. They escaped by jumping from their window and 
landing upon the roof of the gaUery below. The only occupants of all the 
rooms on the sixth floor, who escaped besides the three just mentioned, were 
Ben, K. Tice, chief clerk, Patrick Conroy and Thomas Cleary, bell-boys. 
Mr. Tice escaped by breaking the window at the end of the hall, next the 
alley, and passing down the ladder built on the side of the building. As he 
reached the roof of the bridge, between the hotel and the bank building, he 
heard someone attempting to opon the door on the fifth floor of the hotel, 
leading to the bridge. He broke in the door and found Lizzie AngHn and car- 
ried her to the roof of the bank building. Mr. Tice then returned in order to 
save Mollie Connors, Lizzie's room-mate, but as the flames were now raging 
furiously from the door and windows, from whence they had just escaped, 
MoUie's rescue was impossible. Mr. Tice, after breaking a window in the roof 
of the bank, took Miss Anglin to a hallway below. Her injuries proved 
fatal. 

The servants' quarters were on the fifth floor of the hotel, and along the 
alley side of the building, about twenty feet north of Michigan street. The 
rooms were built along a hall, running north and south, and totally separated 
from the guests' apartments by heavy doors. The first that the girls knew of 



THE NEWHALL HOUSE FIRE. 509 

the fire was the appearance of Linehan, the engineer, who awoke them and 
directed them to follow him without waiting to dress. After Linehan gave the 
alarm the hall swarmed with girls, while he, thinking they would follow him, 
rushed down stairs to find that only one had obeyed his instructions. 

While the attention of the firemen was called to the danger of the servant 
girls, all possible speed was made toward the alley side of the doomed building. 
Already some ten or more had jumped to the pavement below. Foreman 
C'urtin, of Truck No. 2, called to the girls not to jump, that a ladder was being 
brought to rescue them. At al)out this time Foreman Riemer, of Truck No. 
I, noticing that what is known as the Frackelton building was just opposite 
the alley, thought of a brilliant idea. He ordered a ladder to be dropped 
across the alley from this building, to reach into the servants' windows. Her- 
man F. Stauss and George Wells were the first to reach the roof of the Frack- 
elton building, and deftly handled the long, ungainly ladder, and not long 
after, the anxiously waiting spectators below were overjoyed at seeing the 
ladder crash through a window in the burning hotel. Over this bridge were 
safely helped many of the panic-stricken girls. Another ladder was spanned 
over the alley, and over this, too, were the girls rescued. The firemen kept on 
with their good work, until all the servants within reach had been safely trans- 
ferred to the ground. 

Mary Gavin, one of the girls who escaped by this improvised bridge, 
was awakened by screams and cries in the hallway. She quickly called her 
room-mate and together they rushed into the hall, which was full of smoke. 
They attempted to reach the stairway, but were driven back by the heat and 
smoke. Many of the girls now rushed to the windows facing the alley, which 
they threw open, crying loudly for help. The smoke by this time had become 
so thick that nothing could be seen in the rooms and hallway. Miss Gavin 
stood at the window waiting for help. Some of the girls had fainted, and were 
lying there, seeming to be suffocated. Miss Gavin went again to the w'indow, 
calling to the men to do something. The ladder was then thrown across and 
over this Miss Gavin and the girls made their escape. The unconscious girls 
were carried across by the brave firemen. 

Mary McCauley, another of the girls that escajjed over the ladder, 
says: "I was awakened by the shouts and screams of the others and ran into 
the hall. It was full of girls, rushing wildly up and down, crying and 
screaming. I rushed to the end of the hall, peeped through the door and saw 
everything was smoke and fire outside. I then ran back and passing a room 
where seven girls had taken refuge, joined them, and we all knelt in prayer. 
One of the girls had a crucifix and a stout woman prayed out loud. Just as 
we had given up all hope, the window crashed in our room and 1 fainted. It 
so happened the firemen with the ladder had found our room out of thirty 
others, and we, with a few others, were saved." 



5IO HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

General Tom Thumb and wife occupied a room directly above the 
Michigan street entrance, on the third floor. They were awakened by Police 
Officer O'Brien, who loudly knocked at their door. The officer was admitted 
and sought the window, which he hastily threw open. A ladder was raised 
and General Thumb descended, followed by Officer O'Brien bearing Mrs. 
Thumb in his arms. The descent was safely made. 

Orange Williams, of Janesville, occupied a room in the fifth story, facing 
Broadway. He was awakened by a noise in the hall and on the 
street. He opened the door leading into the hall, but found it filled with 
smoke; he then retraced his steps, and sought the window in his room. The 
crowd below, hearing his cries, shouted to him that a fire-escape was close by 
toward Wisconsin street. He again went into the hall, and groped his way 
along the wall, and, after stumbling over a fallen person, at last reached the fire- 
escape and descended in safety. J. C. Clark, of Wausau, was on the fourth 
floor. He heard the noise around him, and rising, lit the gas, and dressed. 
He was well acquainted in the hotel and knew the exact location of the fire- 
escapes. After dressing, he left his room, entered the hallway, although filled 
with smoke, until he reached the window leading to the escape, down which 
he passed in safety, to the balcony, from whence, through the office, he reached 
the street. 

T. J. Anderson, of Chicago, occupied a corner room in the fourth story. He 
was aroused by the cries of the victims, and, upon opening his door, found the 
smoke and flames bursting in with terrible fury. He retreated to the window 
near the Benner fire-escape, and called wildly for help. Detective McManus 
shouted to him to come down on the escape, which he did. The only article 
of wearing apparel which he had on was a gauze shirt. John L. Kellogg, 
of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway, had a room in about the cen- 
ter of the third story, facing Broadway. He was awakened by a piece of hot 
glass from the transom falling upon him. He jumped up, immediately tore 
the bed clothes into strips, tied them together and made a rope. On this he 
first lowered Miss Warren, of the Tom Thumb Company, to the balcony, then 
he followed and both escaped. 

M. Moran, of Beloit, Wisconsin, occupied a room on the third floor. The 
noise around awoke him, but he supposing it was the servants preparing break- 
fast, lay in bed several moments. He next heard the cry of "Murder !" "Fire I" 
and the cries of the terrified inmates. He jumped up, looked into the hall, but 
was driven back by the stifling smoke. He then grabbed his clothes and 
again started out into the hall. While running down, he stumbled and fell 
over the body of a woman. Two other women were rushing back and forth 
crying. Moran took hold of one by the arm, and attempted to pull her with 
him. She, however, l)roke away and ran l)ack into the burning building. 



THK NEWHAIJ, HOUSE FIRE. 511 

The hall was all afire at the end, which for a moment .sloijped his tiight, but 
hearing a man shout, "Come through, it is only two feet deep," he rushed on, 
and reached the outside of the building in safety. Samuel Martin's room was 
situated on the third floor, opening on the court. The noise awaking him, he 
seized his trousers, and rushed toward the alley down the servants' stairway. 
While on his way he noticed a man nearly nude, coming from a room and 
falling. He hastily threw a sheet over him. He also saw a thinly-clad 
woman, over her shoulders Martin threw a blanket, After reaching the alley, 
he hastened to the Kirby House, where he found the man sitting in the office 
over whom he had thrown a sheet while escaping through the burning hall. 
The self-same sheet was still doing service in lieu of a suit of clothes and an 
overcoat. 

]. W. Maxwell's room was in the third story, near the elevator. He was 
resting uneasily and awoke, seeing the flames over the transom of his room. 
He heard the cries of the victims in the halls, and hastened to the door. At- 
tempting to open it, he was unfortunate enough to break the key in the lock, 
making escape by the door impossible. He then ran to the window, tore 
out the sash and dropped to the roof of the court, which was but a few feet 
below. Running along the roof, amid the falling sparks, he came to another 
window, through which he climbed, sought the door, but that was also locked. 
He returned to the roof and entered window after window in an effort to 
escape through the door and hallway. At last he was successful, and dropping 
on his hands and knees, crawled through the hall, filled with smoke, and made 
hideous by the groans and shrieks of the unfortunates unable to make their 
egress, he finally succeeded in making his escape. 

C. W. Briggs, of Grand Rapids, Wisconsin, occu])ied a room on the third 
floor, opening on the court. He was awakened by the breaking of glass, 
caused by the heat and draft through the hall. He grabbed his clothes and 
hurried out into the smoke-filled hall. He ran one way, but was checked by a 
wall of fire, compelling him to turn and seek safety in another direction. A 
torpor seemed to seize him, and it was only with the utmost eftbrt that he was 
able to shake it off. He reached the stairway, blindly ran down it, but fell at 
the head of the second flight and rolled to the bottom, receiving severe bruises. 
He was, however, saved. 

Emil Flesh occupied a room on the third floor, on the Broadway front. 
He made his escape by tearing his blankets into strips and tying them together. 
Upon this hastily improvised rope he safely made his escape. 

Edward P. Haff, of New York, whose room was on the third floor, facing 
Michigan street and adjoining the alley, says: "A terrible sensation of a 
crushing weight u])on my chest awoke me, and I lay for a moment dazed and 
half smothered, and heard a clock strike four. The thick smoke in the room 



512 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

was stifling, and groping to the door I opened it. The rush of flame and 
heated air, not smoke alone, but scorching, burning air, met me, taking away 
my breath and well nigh my senses. A reeling form, with hair and whiskers 
burned from the face, and eyebrows gone, staggered toward me with wide open 
mouth, gasping for breath. From the parched throat came inarticulate moans. 
I pulled him into the room, closed the door, and tried to open the window. 
It was locked. I broke a pane of glass, and caught a whiff of God-given air. 
By the light of the burning building I could see the telegraph wires twenty 
feet away and half resolved to jump. My companion in the room revived a 
little, and said he had come from No. 221, only four rooms distant, and yet he 
nearly perished in making the journey. His name was Mahoney, and he was 
from Rock Island. Covering our faces so as to breathe as httle of the torrid 
air as possible, we again opened the door and ran along the hallway toward 
the alley. We met a young woman staggering through the smoke and groping 
along the walls, apparently blinded or dazed. As she was almost naked I 
caught up a couple of sheets, threw them around her, and tried to lead her 
with me. She was hopelessly frightened, however, and could only moan : 
'My God, my God, I can't.' She finally fell into an open doorway, and I 
left her lying across the threshold. My companion and I crossed the bridge 
nito the bank building and descended to the ground." 

W. F. Schmidt slept on the fourth floor. When awakened his room 
was already filled with smoke, and he became for an instant terror-stricken. 
Realizing his danger he shook oft" the terror, and puUing on his trousers, 
ran from the room. The hall was filled with smoke and people striving 
to escape. The desperate people were hurrying along, crowding against 
one another, in their endeavors to escape, even tramping over the pros- 
trate forms already overcome by the heat and smoke. In his haste to 
find the stairway, Mr. Schmidt struck his head against a door or casement, 
and lost consciousness. When he came to, he was sitting on the floor, with 
his ears and nose blistered by the terrible heat. He strove helplessly to find 
the stairway, but of no avail, and prepared to meet his fate. Suddenly he 
found some one grasping his hand and pulling him along, crying, "This way. 
This way." Some one else took his other hand, and in this manner the trio 
rushed to the stairway. Half-running, half-tumbling, the steps were traversed 
to the passage below. There was a woman curled upon the floor. "Don't 
step on her," the rescuer cried out, "she is dead." They hurried through the 
boiler-room and escaped through the alley. The brave man who rescued Mr. 
Schmidt was William Linehan, the fireman of the hotel. He had also rescued 
the woman lying in the passage-way, supposed to be dead. She was after- 
wards resuscitated. 



THE NEWHALL HOUSE FIRE. 513 

William E. Cramer, editor and proprietor of the E^mi/ii:; JViscansin, and 
his wife, occupied a suite of rooms in the southeast corner of the building, on 
the floor above the office. Mrs. Cramer was awakened by the noise of the 
roaring and crackling of the flames in the elevator shaft, and cjuickly arising, 
opened the door, and perceived that the fire was in the elevator, and the hall 
becoming filled with smoke. She called her husband, urging him to seek 
safety without waiting to dress. He hesitated, but was pulled by his wife 
across the hall to the south staircase, which was partly on fire. Placing herself 
between him and the flames they descended the stairway, and reached the 
office floor. A hack was summoned and Mrs. Cramer and husband were con- 
veyed to the Plankinton House, and only then did the couple discover that 
they had suffered injury from the fire. Both were terribly burned about the 
lower limbs, shoulder, neck, face and head. Their feet were also blistered. 

RKDUCED TO RUINS. 

Julius and Herman Bleyer, the authors of the well- written litde book, 
styled "Burning of the Newhall House," thus described the burning building: 
"An hour after the discovery of the fire, the towering walls of the hotel simply 
bounded a huge furnace, that sent upward immense clouds of vapor and smoke. 
Into the quivering heat of the inner ruin the fire department continued to pour 
water from seven engines ; nothing more could be done. At 5:30 o'clock the 
Broadway wall of the ruined structure bulged out and fell to the pavement 
with a thundering crash, followed shortly after by a portion of the Michigan 
street wall, near Broadway. About this time apiece of the cornice and a mass 
of brick fell from the Michigan street wall, near the alley, where Ben Van 
Haag, first pipeman of Supply Hose, No. 2, was holding a nozzle with a com- 
panion, and directing a stream of water into the ruins. Seeing the falhng mass 
they beat a hasty retreat; but Van Haag was not swift enough. The rubbish 
struck the telegraph wires and broke a large i)ole into several i)ieces, one of 
which felled Van Haag to the frozen earth. He was at first thought to be 
fatally injured, but he rallied from the effects of the shock and recovered. 
This was the only serious injury suffered by a fireman during the batde with 
the consuming element. 

"The fire had now burned itself out, but the glowing embers required 
constant attention. The mner ruin was a fervent crucible, in which was being 
reduced to ashes the remains of two score of human beings who less than two 
hours before were .slumbering in blissful ignorance of their impending fate. 
The blow was almost as swift as the, flash of steel. Firemen, policemen and 
citizens had braved death in the work of rescue, but fate had willed that their 
efforts should prove futile. 'I'he consuming element had the mastery from the 



514 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

start, and its work was accomplished with such appalHiig swiftness that 
nerves of steel were for the nonce untempered." 

Important Statements. 

These statements are printed to give an idea of the origin of the fire and 
the rapidity of its progress : 

Statement of William McKenzie, Elevator Conductor. 

At 2 o'clock in the morning I took a Mr. Brown, connected with the 
" Ranch lo " Company, from the first to the third floor in the elevator. After 
taking Brown I took care of a grate fire in the office, and then made a tour of 
inspection through the dining-room and kitchen. From the kitchen I went 
through the cellar and engine-room, and returned to the office floor. This 
occupied my time a trifle over half an hour. I next went down the main 
stairway and around, past the saloon, to the ladies' entrance, to see that no 
tramps had found lodging there. About 3 o'clock I was on the office floor 
waiting for passengers by the trains which usually arrive at that hour. The 
train was late and I made another tour of the house, taking in the first and 
second floors, the bank building, and the kitchen and cellar. On my return 
at half-past three or twenty-five minutes to four I took up Mr. Elliott, who 
came on the delayed train. I took him to the fifth floor, where he roomed. 
There I let the elevator stand, and made a tour of the halls of that floor. 
While coming around to the elevator again I met a gentleman apparently 
searching for a room-number. Went toward him and recognized him as a 
man who slept on the floor above. Invited him into the elevator and carried 
him up. Again let the elevator stand and made a tour of the halls there. 
Took a look at the clock on this top floor, and found it to indicate ten minutes 
of four. This clock could not be depended upon for correctness, however. 
My time to call the help is 4 o'clock. I had the kitchen fireman to call on 
this floor, and as I passed the elevator to do so I saw smoke issuing from the 
shaft at the bottom of the car. I immediately sprang into the elevator and 
descended to see where it was coming from. By the time I reached the floor 
above the oflice the smoke had become so dense that I stopped the elevator 
and ran down the next flight of stairs to the office. Tom Delaney, the night 
clerk, was standing in front of the counter. I said to him: " Tom, there is 
smoke coming up through here, and I am going to see where it comes from." 
I then ran down the main stairway, and around to the main elevator, followed 
by Tom. I found the passage leading to the Michigan street entrance so filled 
with smoke that I could not enter. I said to Tom, " Turn the water on," as 
I closed the door, and he replied : "I'll telephone for the firemen." Then I 
rushed into the pitcher closet, and shouted down to Linehan to come up, as 



THE NEWHALL HOUSE FIRE. 515 

there was fire in the elevator. After doing this I returned to the hallway below 
and found the smoke as bad as ever. Linehan here rushed past me into the 
hallway leading to the Michigan street entrance. I spoke : " There's no use 
staying here. We had better call the house ; " with which 1 rushed up to the 
third floor, shouting " Fire I " and I kicked in the door of Mr. and Mrs. 
Cramer's sleeping room ; also the door of room 24, occupied by some of the 
Tom Thumb people. The fire was now beginning to burst out of the elevator 
door on this floor. The smoke and fire appeared suddenly and enveloped me 
so that I gave up the idea of running to the floor above, which I had in mind. 
In fact, the smoke became so dense that it fairly bewildered me. I dropped 
upon the floor, and hastily crawled to the passage leading across the alley to 
the bank building. Here even the heat which preceded me had warmed the 
knob of the door. The first gust of smoke and hot air from the elevator al- 
most stifled me. Through the bank building 1 proceeded to the street, and 
assisted people who sj^rang from the windows, and also helped to raise a ladder 
to Tom Thumb's room, so that he and his wife could be got out. 

Statement of En(;ixeer William Linehan. 

I came on duty at half-past 3 o'clock in the morning, and at ten minutes 
before 4 turned steam on for the oflice. 1 then sat down for about ten min- 
utes, after which I tried the steam-gauge and shut the furnace dampers. 
At 4 o'clock — perhaps a few minutes sooner or later — I heard the warning 
call of the night watchman, directing me from the pitcher closet on the office 
floor. The watchman informed me hastily of the discovery of a fire in the 
h(jtel. I ran to the office floor via the rear or servants' stairway and shouted : 
" Tom, where is all the fire coming from?" The reply was : " I don't know, 
but the house is full of smoke." (Tom was the night clerk.) I then ran down 
to the main floor and reeled off" a line of canvas hose, which I dragged up- 
stairs. As I reached the landing flames were working through the office floor 
near the elevator entrance. This caused me to run down stairs again for the 
purpose of directing the firemen, who had arrived and were running two lines 
of hose into the elevator entrance. After having d(me this I once more pro- 
ceeded to the office floor, and encountered Mr. and Mrs. W. E. Cramer and 
the housekeeper, Mrs. Lusk, near the landing of the old ladies* entrance stair- 
way. I ne.xt retraced my steps to the basement via the back stairway, and got 
a lamp, intending to run up-stairs to the upper floors and arouse the help. Be- 
fore doing so, however, I ran forward through the basement to the bottom oi 
the elevator shaft, a distance of eighty feet, and opened the door leading into 
the bottomt of the shaft. I only pulled the door ajar sufficiently to thrust my 
head into the shaft. My attention was immediately drawn to flames rushing 
into and uj) the shaft through the east wall. This wall was merely a board 



5i6 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

partition separating the wood and general store-room of the Goetz barber-shop 
from the shaft. The flames did not fill the shaft, but merely rushed upward 
along this eastern board partition wall. I had to withdraw m}' head from the 
shaft quickly, as the current of air rushing upward was so strong that it lifted a 
silk cap which I wore off my head, and I barely saved it from being swept 
upward into the vortex of fire. The point where the flames seemed to burst 
mto the shaft was between three or four feet, or a little more than an ordinary 
barrel high. When I withdrew my head I closed the door and ran back with 
all the speed I possessed, to and up the back stairway, as far as the tank-room, 
between the fourth and fifth floors. There I shouted to those above that they 
should come to me and I would save them. No one responded. I then de- 
scended to the third floor, where I met a German girl (the vegetable cook in 
the kitchen), whose name I do not now remember, and asked her if she knew 
where my sister Kate was. The girl replied that Kate was all right, as she 
(the girl) had been called by her. I heard someone moaning in the hall, and 
proceeding through the smoke in the direction of the sound, I found a young 
woman, who afterwards proved to be Julia Burns, lying upon the floor, sense- 
less and foaming at the mouth. She was scantily dressed. I took her in my 
arms and carried her to the landing on the ofiice level and put her down upon 
the floor. Then I went back up-stairs, found a man lying senseless, and bore 
him to the same landing, where there was no smoke. This man I covered 
with a buftalo robe. I went back a third time and brought down a dining- 
room girl named Christina something, who roomed on the third floor. The 
fourth trip I brought down Lizzie x\nglin, who afterwards died at the Axtel 
House from eftects of burns, although to me, at that time, she did not appear 
to be injured. The fifth trip put the second porter in my hands, and I brought 
him down to the same landing with the others. A sixth trip resulted in the 
rescure of a man whom I encountered with a blanket wrapped around him. 
By this time the smoke had become so dense that I could not go up any more, 
and I turned my attention to those I had brought down, taking them out into 
the alley in the rear of the hotel. Scarcely had the last one been taken out 
into the open air, when a horrible yell greeted my ears. The voice was aj)- 
parently that of a man, and the sound came from the court. I rushed in there 
to see who it might be, and save him, if possible. But I could discover no 
one. While searching the court with my eyes from the doorway, a spark of 
fire from aloft fell upon my neck, and gave me a painful burn. Other cinders 
fell upon my cap, and burned that. The man who shrieked in such an un- 
earthly manner may have been at one of the windows looking into the court. 
He may also have been upon the brick pavement below, and unseen by me, 
but there can be no mistaking where the sound of his voice came from. It 
fairlv makes me shudder when I think of it now. After this last eftbrt at life- 



THE NEWHALL HOUSE FIRE. 5,7 

saving I beat a hasty retreat into the open air, and not any too soon, as by this 
time the entire upper portion of the building was a mass of flames. 

Statement of Thomas Delaney, ihe Nk.ht Clerk. 

On the morning of the fire I was in the office. Going back to 3 o'clock 
in the morning, or about that time, two officers came in. One, I think, was 
O'Brien. They stayed about five minutes. The next person who came in was 
T. B. EUiott ; that was after the Chamber clock had struck 3:30. He said 
" Good morning, Tom," and I told the night watch to take Mr. Elliott to his 
room. The next who came in was Conductor Howie, about five minutes after. 
He left a small satchel on the settee at the top of the stairway. I spoke to him 
and got a drink, then walked up the south stairway. That was pretty near 4 
o'clock. The next thing I heard was a step on the stairs. I looked over the 
front stairs and saw smoke rising from below, near the stairs. It was McKenzie 
I had heard, and he asked me where the smoke came from. I said down stairs, 
and we both rushed down, he a little ahead. We passed the wine-room. \\'ho 
got to the Michigan street door first, I don't know, but when it was opened the 
smoke rushed through the hall so densely that I was forced back. I ran to give 
an alarm, which I did by the telephone. That, I knew, was the quickest way 
to send in the alarm. That was, as near as I can say, about 4 o'clock. It was 
five minutes to four when I first discovered the smoke. I telephoned: " Send 
Eire Department to Newhall as quick as you can!" They responded they 
would be there in a minute. I then set about seeing how the firemen could 
best reach the blaze. I ran to the Broadway sidewalk and already No. i hose 
cart was coming down. I looked into the house at this juncture and saw flames 
had burst from the elevator. I yelled, " Right this way, gentlemen!" Two 
firemen rushed in with Babcocks, but they saw it was too late for them 
and hose was run in. I ran into the house and the first ones 1 met were 
Mr. and Mrs. Wm. E. Cramer, in their night-clothes. Two men came 
in then — officers or firemen — and rec^uested me to let them into the bal- 
cony. I did so, but the balcony door was not locked. By this time one 
man had jumped on to the balcony. Mr. Antisdel called me back to the 
office and asked for the key of the safe. I took it from the cash-drawer and 
gave it to young John Antisdel, who was nude, and I gave him one of Mr. 
Lee's coats. I took the valuables out of the safe, jumped out of the office 
and handed Mr. Freeman's buffalo overcoat to Mrs. Cramer, who asked me 
to go to their room and get them some clothes. I tried to do so, but had 
to come back and told her I could not get to the room, and she said, " Never 
mind." Parlor C struck me just then, where I knew was Tom Thumb. Run- 
ning there I found a policeman, and I awoke every body in that neighbor- 
hood. I then run up the north stairs and met Mr. Starr, with Mr. Ludington 



5i8 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

in a chair. Then I ran down to the ladies' entrance and got a couple of the 
pohcemen, who helped Mr. Ludington down. I then thought of Mr. Paul, 
who was also on the Ludington floor. I met him hobbling along, nude, and 1 
got officers to help him down which they did, I went up again, the third and last 
time. The smoke was so strong and the gas out that I could see nothing. I 
struck a match to light the gas, and it went out. I tried to light a torch, but 1 
could not. The smoke was then so suffocating that I had to lie down. I went 
up all those limes to get people out, and had to crawl back to the office on my 
hands and knees the last time. When I left the office the floor was falling in 
around the elevator. I gave young Antisdel two little boxes, but he did not 
take them out and I did. About ten minutes elapsed between the time I found 
the fire and was forced from the house. After I left the office I went out on 
Broadway. By that time four stories were all on fire. I stood around until I 
got cold, and then I went home.* 

The Ruins. 

On the day following the fire, the clearing away of the debris, and the 
search for missing bodies, was begun, under the management of Captain 
William P. O'Connor, of the Board of Public Works, Horace M. Brown, M. 
D., and Arthur Holbrook and James S. Perkins, dentists, examined the relics, 
made a full report, which was filed for future reference. The work of excavat- 
ing was naturally very slow, as the smoking ruins were still in a heated condition, 
the weather was bad, and considerable water had collected m the pit. Forty- 
eight charred bodies were found, of which four, David M. Martelle, Robert 
Howie, Wm. C. Wiley and Mary Miller, were identified. The bodies were 
taken to a room in the Miller building, on the corner of Wisconsin street and 
Broadway. 

The workmen, wherever was found a deposit of the pure white ash, which 
experience had taught them generally surrounded a body, carefully went on 
with their work. Every article, however small, that might have belonged to 
some of the unfortunate inmates, was saved and sent to the Central Police 
Station. From this source many friends and relatives of the lost were able to 
retain some slight memento of the dead. Judge George Reed's gold watch 
was found, and claimed by his son. David H. Martelle's and Robert Howie's 
watches also were found, and delivered to their friends. 

The safes situated in the first story were removed, and in nearly every 
case were in good condition. Trunks were found in good shape, with the con- 
tents completely blackened. Madonnas and crucifixes were found. One of 



* These extracts, together with the data and important events, are taken from "Burn- 
ing of the Newhall House " by Messrs. Julius Bleyer and Herman Bleyer, of Milwaukee, 
published in 1883. 



THE NKWHAI.I, HOUSK FIRK. 519 

the Madonnas was remarkably preser\ed. The frame was charred to a cin- 
der, while the enameled picture remained bright and untarnished. Many 
coins were discovered, these in most cases found their way as relics to the by- 
standing citizens. 

Thk Funeral and Inquest. 

January 23d, just two weeks after the day of the fire, the public funeral of 
the unidentified victims took place at Forest Home and Calvary Cemeteries. 
Twenty of the bodies were buried from the St. John Cathedral, and twenty- 
three from the Exposition Building. 

The day was clear and bright, but cold. In many places business was 
suspended in order to attend the obsequies. Houses as well as many stores 
were draped in mourning. 

The St. John Cathedral doors were simply draped with black and white. 
Inside the draping was much more elaborate. From the steps of the sanctuary 
back to the vestibule, sixty feet, was the bier, covered with black cloth, on 
which were placed in rows of two, the twenty coffins. Every inch of available 
space was occupied by sympathizers or mourners. Monsignor Eatz, V. G., 
assisted b)' Rev. Father Weinman and Father Lucas, the Palestrina Society, 
singing, celebrated solemn high mass of recjuiem. As the chorus of about fifty 
voices rendered the sad strains of the requiem, women in every part of the 
church burst into audible sobs, and few were the eyes that were dry. Arch- 
bishop Heiss pronounced the ceremony of absolution over the remains, after 
which Father Matthew, of Racine, preached the sermon. He said : 

" My text for this mournful occasion will be Ecclesiastes, twelfth chapter, 
seventh and eighth verses : ' Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was ; 
and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.' ' V^anity of vanities, saith 
the preacher ; all is vanity.' 

" Death is one of the circumstances attached to life. When we come 
into this world we are born under the sentence of death. When it comes or 
how it comes we know not. God only knows. The true philosophy of life 
teaches us to prepare for that event. Religion tells us that the salvation of 
our soul depends upon dying in unity with God. I need not re-enact the 
terrible scene of that dreadful morning. The curtain of night held its pall 
over the habitation of man. Tired nature had sought refreshment and repose 
that comes from slumber. We know not the bright visions that passed through 
the minds of the unconscious slumberers. Some, no doubt, were living over 
again in pleasing fancy the joyous days of childhood. Again they sat by their 
own father's fireside, and talked of home and their childish pleasures. Others, 
with pleasing anticipations, dreamt of pleasures yet to come. We all have our 
expectations that the future will realize to us pleasures and happiness. So 



520 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

may we suppose was the minds of those slumbering occupants, on that 
dread morn, when the peal of alarm burst forth to call some to judgment and 
others to the trying ordeal that awaited them. Imagination cannot depict a 
scene more terrible, and it is hard for the mind of man to describe it in its re- 
ality. In that leap for life death was imminent; behind them the most unmer- 
ciful element of destruction. The scene was alarming, though these terrified 
guests gave way not to despair. The preservation of life is an instinct of our 
nature. By jumping, death was probable; by remaining, certain. How 
beautiful the teachings of our Christ. In that last trying ordeal, faith sustained 
them, and hope animated them to offer their lives to their God. All human aid 
appeared to be unavailmg. Kind hearts outside .sympathized with them ; but God 
alone could assist them. On their knees, they supplicated Heaven's mercy, and in 
union they drew together before the cross of Christ ; in that alone did they look for 
aid and mercy. ' I am the resurrection and the life,' says St. John in the Apoc- 
alypse ; ' he that believeth in me shall have everlasting Hfe.' Animated with this 
idea they threw themselves on the mercy of God, and, in the words of Scripture, 
said : ' Into Thy hands, oh Lord, I commend my spirit.' It appears that 
the ear of God was not closed to the petition for aid. It came from a most 
unexpected source. A brave fireman, strengthened by the spirit of God, 
risked his own life, and in a manner familiar to you all, rescued a number of 
precious souls. These, whose bodies lie in the chancel, their lives, their faith 
and their trust in God might well justify us in saying: ' Oh! Grave, where is 
thy victory? Oh ! Death, where is thy sting?' They died, as they had 
lived, true children of their church and faithful followers of the Lamb. In life 
they hoped, in death they were not disappointed. We can well say that this 
appeal from fervent hearts was addressed to the throne of God : ' Have mercy 
on me, oh Lord, according to Thy great mercy.' The decrees of God were 
verified. St. Paul says to the Hebrews : ' It is decreed for all men once to die,' 
They have paid that penalty, and, in resignation, submitted to that decree. 
They have left their bodies to us, which we this day are about to consign to 
the tomb. Their souls have returned to the God from whence they came. 
Their examples and their lives are still in the memory of those who knew them, 
and cherished most by those who knew them best. Though gone, yet to us 
they shall not be forgotten. The teaching of our church bids us to hold their 
memory in grateful remembrance, so that every kind thought may be a new 
prayer, asking for Heaven's mercy. This beautiful feature of our religion 
bids us pray for the eternal repose of their souls. The disfigured remains, 
though not recognizable to the eyes of mortals, yet are known to the 
ever-searching eye of God. That terrible day will long be fresh in the 
minds of the people of this community, and their memory shall 
not be forgotten by the church. So let us take warning by the fate of those 



THE NEWHALL HOUSE FIRE. 521 

who Iiave gone before us ; be you also ready, for you know not when God may 
call on you. Let us return to our homes from this saddening scene with hum- 
bled hearts and humiliated spirits. As we thus honor their memories, let us 
pray that God will have mercy on their souls." 

Amid the music of the band and the tolling of the deep-toned bell the 
bodies were borne to the funeral cars. 

The Exposition building was also crowded. The hall was profusely hung 
with white and black bunting. The ceremonies were commenced by Rev. A. 
F. Mason, repeating the Lord's Prayer. Rev. J. E. Gilbert then read one 
of the Psalms of David, which was followed by the singing of "Over All the Tree- 
tops." Another prayer followed by Rev. A. A. Koehle, after which the entire 
congregation joined in singing "Old Hundred." The funeral sermon was de- 
livered by Rev. J. N. Freeman, who said : 

"The time allotted to this service requires that my words should be k\v. 
And this is well ; for who, in such a sermon as this, can give adequate utter- 
ance to his own surging thoughts, much less voice the feelings of this multi- 
tude ? We are witnessing and sharing in the last public act of the awful 
tragedy which, a fortnight ago, burst with sudden and pitiless fury upon our 
beloved city — a tragedy which caused bitter tears which no human sympathy 
can wipe away, and wrought a desolation which no human means or skill can 
rebuild ; a tragedy w^hose shadows seem to deepen as the days pass. This 
group of nameless caskets gives silent but pathetic witness to our utter impo- 
tence to grapple with the mystery, and to make up the loss which is most real. 
The familiar block, now a ghastly ruin, may be restored to more than its 
original beauty and service ; but who can build again the shattered hopes 
and plans, or restore to bereaved kindred and friends out of these 
poor fragments the forms which were once goodly to look upon 
and dearly loved? This is noplace to [)ronounce eulogies upon the dead, 
however deserving; nor to merely ofter condolence to the sorrowing, however 
sorely needed. Rather is it ours in humility and reverence to give worthy 
Christian burial to these pitiful remains, in the name of thousands whose grief 
is the heavier because they are denied even the poor consolation of recognizing 
and giving private sepulture to their beloved. Well may this stricken city claim 
as hers, and pay due honors to those who once added their share to her wealth 
and worth ! Well may the place where their bodies shall find their last resting 
place be ever sacred to us and our children ! But, when these memorial serv- 
ices and this solemn pageant are over, when our life in home and city struggles 
l)ack to its wonted channels, has our whole duty been done ? Is there no more 
which humanity, gratitude and religion call upon us to accomplish in memory 
of the dead and in behalf of the living? Surely, friends, there are deeper 
lessons, if we will receive them ; nobler tasks, if we will consent to perform 



522 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

them. It is said: 'When the German ocean has been moved by a great 
storm, it begins to toss out amber upon the beach, and the jewel-makers rush 
down to the new sand. So, whenever the human ocean has been well moved 
it begins to throw forth things of value to those walking on the mortal shore.' 
What thoughtful mind can doubt that these sudden and mighty agitations 
should arouse us to higher ideals and nobler methods of life ? Who can doubt 
that the angel of terror and of death, the shadow of whose wings have been 
dark as night, may yet prove a ' ministering spirit,' leading us on to brighter 
because better days? If we will, out of these troubled waters shall come 
truer, richer liealth to human society ; from this fiery trial character shall 
come forth purged of its dross. Among the throng of thoughts which are 
excited by this great calamity, there are three which I would especially 
emphasize. One is, the inestimable value of a single human life. Mortal 
though we are, we are not like the beasts that perish. Made in the image 
of God, we are charged with an immortal destiny. Whoever cuts short this 
life, whether his own or another's, whether by malicious intent or by 
thoughtless neglect, will not be held guiltless by God, and should not be 
by men. W^e must check the fearful prodigality with which so many waste 
their own life and imperil the lives of others. Again, let us more fully 
recognize the relations that bind us together in human brotherhood. We 
are not, cannot be, independent of each other. However separated by the 
barriers of nationahty, station, possessions, employments, creeds, we are one 
in the sorrows that afflict us and the death that awaits us. The things of which 
we so often boast are but the accidents, not the essentials of life. Why, then, 
should we suffer ourselves to be ever proud, contemptuous, exclusive ? That 
humanity is the richest, the most like God's ideal, which takes as its motto and 
rule of life, ' Each for all, and all for each.' Lifted by this sudden calamity 
and sorrow to recognize this fact in splendid deeds of heroism and generous 
sympathy and help, why should we ever lose sight of this high ideal? Once 
more let us not forget that there is a kmdness which comes too late. Flowers 
upon the casket of the dead may bear pathetic witness to love, but how much 
better if we should strew more flowers along the dreary pathway of the living. 
Solemn hymns and chants are appropriate to a burial service ; but can we not, 
if we will, put more music into the hearts and homes that are all too dolorous ? 
Eulogies over the departed may be sometimes helpful ; but a few hearty words 
of cheer and praise to our fellow-pilgrims, ere they leave us, are infinitely more. 
Let us then resolve, even beside these caskets of the dead, that we will think 
more, plan more, do more for those who are still with us. Then shall this sor- 
row, grievous as it is, bring a blessing that shall be eternal." 

Rabbi I. S. Moses then arose and addressed the multitude in German, 
after which the funeral procession started, meeting the Catholic cortege on the 



THE NEWHALL HOUSE FIRE. 523 

upper end of Broadway, and from thence solemnly wended their way in the 
following order, toward the cemeteries : 

First Division. 

Marshal Bean and Staff. 

Light Horse Squadron. 

Bach's Band. 

Lincoln Guards. 

South Side Turner Rifles. 

Grand Army of the Republic. 

Milwaukee Turn Verein. 

Scandinavian Benevolent Society. 

Druids. 

Delegates from Eintracht Society. 

Carriages Containing Clergy. 

Three Carriages Containing Policemen. 

Hearses. 

Citizens' Committee. 

The Mayor. 

Municipal Organizations. 

Citizens in Carriages. 

Second Division. 

Under'Command of Assistant Marshal Thomas Shea. 

Clauder's Band. 

Sheridan Guards. 

Kosciusko Guards. 

Knights of St. George. 

Knights of St. Patrick. 

Order of St. Bonaventura. 

St. John's Married Men's Sodality. 

St. Bonifacius Society. 

Ancient Order of Hibernians. 

Hibernian Benevolent Society. 

St. Gall's Young Men's Sodality. 

St. Pius' Society. 

St. Peter's Society. 

Band. 
St. Joseph's Society. 
St. Bernard's Society. 
St. George's Society. 



524 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

St. Stanislaus' Society. 

Runkel's Band. 

St. Anthony's Society. 

St. John's Young Men's Sodahty. 

Heart of Jesus Society. 

Carriages Containing Cathohc Clergy. 

Hearses. 

Delegation of St. George's Society as Pall-bearers. 

Carriages Containing Citizens and Delegations from Societies. 

The cortege moved along, lined on each side by eager spectators, to 
National Avenue, near Sixth Avenue, where the military and civic societies 
forming two lines, came to a halt. The catafalques slowly were drawn be- 
tween the lines, after which the procession dispersed. The pall-bearers, 
clergy and relatives and friends accompanied the remains to the cemeteries 
where the last sad rites were performed. When the coffins were lowered, their 
numbers were called as follows: At Forest Home, i, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 
13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 20, 23, 24, 26, 28, 29, 30, 40 and 44. At Calvary, 27, 
32> 36, 37' 45' 22, 48, 33, 31, 39, 25, 47, 42, 46, 38, 21, 19, 34, 35 and 41. 

The Inquest. 

The inquest was commenced on the 23d of January, and adjourned Feb- 
ruary 5th, when the following verdict was rendered : 

That the Newhall House was set on fire by a person or persons unknown ; 
that only one night watchman was employed in the hotel, and that he, having 
other duties to peform, was unable to attend to his proper duties, which should 
have received the attention of two or three men ; that the night watchman and 
night clerk, obeying previous instructions of the proprietors, lost valuable time 
in useless attempts to extinguish the fire, and neglected to arouse the inmates, 
and that when they did attempt to arouse those in the hotel, the corridors were 
so filled with stifling smoke that the employes were obliged to seek their own 
safety ; that the proprietors were guilty of culpable negligence in not having 
employed a suflicient number of watchmen to guard the house against fire and 
awake the inmates in time to save all the lives possible ; that, notwithstanding 
the facts that the Newhall House was easy of egress and devoid of intricate 
passages, that it had outside escape ladders on the northeast and southeast 
corners, and a bridge near the southwest corner leading across the alley to the 
opposite buildmg, an inside servants' stairway from the fifth story to the base- 
ment, and two large open stairways in the front corridors leading from the office 
floor to the sixth story, with an open ladder to the roof, the owners of the New- 
hall House, knowing that many fires had taken place at various tunes in the 



THE NEWHALI. HOUSE FIRE. 525 

hotel, are guilty of culpable negligence in not having provided more outside 
escapes in case of fire; that the Fire Department did their duty as well as could 
be expected, but could have done much more had the ladder trucks been fully 
manned and ecjuipped with the best extension ladders and the men well drilled 
to handle them ; and that the telegraph poles and wires caused serious obstruc- 
tion to the Fire Department by preventing them from using their ladders in a 
speedy and efficient manner at the time they were so much needed. 
The pecuniary loss was estimated as follows : 

Underwriters' value of the hotel $140,000 

Estimated value of furniture 26,400 

$166,400 
Insurance on building $78,500 

Insurance on furniture 23,800 102,300 

Actual loss $64,100 

The people of Milwaukee were not slow to honor the heroic men who 
risked their lives to save others. On the afternoon of January 19, in the 
Chamber of Commerce building, were masses of people who had come to see 
the public demonstrations of honor. Herman F. Stauss and George E. Wells, 
the brave men that rescued the girls from the fifth story across the ladder, were 
the ones selected for especial commendation. 

President Freeman, of the Chamber of Commerce, called the meeting to 
order, and General Hobart delivered the address, as follows : 

" On the morning of the loth of this month, when the people of Milwau- 
kee looked out from their windows upon the heavens, lit up by the lurid flames 
of the Newhall, they little thought that a hundred human beings were struggling 
and perishing in the fire. Never did a fire-bell m the night presage a calamity 
more appalling — hardly in the history of the world, and never before in the 
record of this beautiful city. Morning never broke over the lake upon a 
scene so terrible, and (iod grant that it never may again. The first signal 
found a part of the fire department engaged in a distant part of the city, and 
but two-thirds of the force were able to respond prompdy to the alarm. The 
fire spread with such fearful rapidity that it was not in the power of man to 
save the building, and it is a marvel that the skill and bravery of the firemen 
were able to confine that sea of flame within the blackened walls of the hotel. 
The valuable buildings and the wealth of merchandise now in the block of that 
ill-fated house are indebted for their preservation to the well-directed and fear- 
less work of the fire department. The police were equally prompt in respond- 
ing to the first call, and they braved every danger in the discharge of their 
duty. There were heroes who deserve immortal honor: Louis Schroeder, 
with great exposure, carried a lady from the third story. Edward Riemer, A. A. 



526 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

Smith and members of Truck Co. No. i rescued seven persons from the Broad- 
way front. Officer Mathews brought out Mr. and Mrs. Cramer. Officer Sul. 
Uvan saved Mr. Hall. Officer O'Brien awoke and assisted Tom Thumb and 
his wife to escape. O'Brien and Miles rescued a lady from the balcony on 
Michigan street. McManus and Janssen lowered Elliott and sent him to a 
carriage, and then carried out James Ludington. Lieutenant Rockwood res- 
cued a lady from the flames on the third floor, and saved another as she 
dropped from a window. Rockwood, Riemer and McManus, with the aid of 
a ladder, assisted three to escape from the balcony. Oscar Kleinsteuber, with 
intrepid courage, ascended the escape on Broadway to the fourth story, and, 
with a lantern in his hand, fearlessly entered the building, and with heroic dar- 
ing piloted seven i)ersons to the escape, who descended in safety. Borngesser, 
Ryan, Smith and Heyder, with great peril, entered the burning house and 
rescued five girls, with the assistance of Green, Riemer and Nodine. I shall 
now speak of the hero Herman F. Stauss, and his brave companion, George 
Wells. Several girls were seen in the sixth story windows over the alley implor- 
ing for help. Stauss was directed by his chief to take a ladder and go to their assist- 
ance. With an eighteen-foot ladder, he and Wells entered the Frackelton building 
and forced their way to the top of the block. Emerging upon the roof, the 
brave girls received them with ringing cheers. Poising their ladder within 
a foot of the edge of the building, it fell into the window opposite only a few 
inches. They called to the girls to come out and prostrate themselves and 
move forward by the aid of their hands. Wells held the ladder and Stauss 
reached forward and guided them across. In this manner five girls passed 
over to the opposite roof. Hearing cries from the same place, Stauss threw 
off his coat and hat and crossed over into the room, where the smoke was 
pouring out of the window, and the panels of the door were on fire. He 
found one girl lying upon the floor nearly insensible. Lifting her up he placed 
her upon the ladder. She grasped the sides with her hands and refused to 
move. Stauss stepped from the window on to the ladder, and with a nerve and 
heroism unparalleled, passed over the prostrate girl, then turning and kneeling 
down, he broke away her clenched hands, and with superhuman strength 
raised her with his arm, and almost in mid air, over a yawning gulf of more 
than sixty feet, bore her across this frail bridge in triumph to a place of safety." 
Herman F. Stauss was then requested to step forth, and General Hobart 
said : " Allow me to introduce the heroic Herman F. Stauss, the subject of my 
only too inadequate words, who risked his life again and again for those poor 
girls." Resounding cheers arose, and, waiting a moment. General Hobart 
went on: " Herman F. Stauss, I now have the honor to present to you, in be- 
half of the Chamber of Commerce of the City of Milwaukee, this watch, chain 
and charm, as a slight token of appreciation for your heroic actions on the 



THE NEWHALL HOUSE FIRE. 



527 



morning (jf the ever-memorable January 10th." Taking the gift, Stauss bowed 
himself off the stage, after saying: "Gentlemen, I thank you for the great 
honor you have conferred upon me." 

George E. Wells was then called for, and stepped forth and was intro- 
duced. Oscar Kleinsteuber, another hero, was also called for, but was not pres- 
ent, and the crowds dispersed. 

On February ist, George E. Wells was also presented with a handsome 
gold watch, chain and charm, by various business men throughout the city. The 
ladies of the Grand Avenue M. E. Church also presented him with a set of 
" The People's Cyclopaedia," and a purse of money. The publishers, Messrs. 
Jones Bros. & Co., Chicago, added "The Life of General Garfield," beautifully 
illustrated, j)aying the charges on the whole. 





"In Cupid's Realm," Painted by W. Bouguereau. 




General E. S. Bragg. 



Chapter LXVI, 



Administraiion of Governor Hoard. 

1889-1891. 

Biographical Sketch of Governor Hoard. — Principal Events. 

William Dkmpsikr Hoard was born at Stockbridge, Madison county, 
New York, on the lothday of October, 1836. His father was a Methodist 
circuit rider. His early Hfe was passed in common schools, and his education 
was such as is usually derived from that class of schools. He settled at Oak 

Grove, Dodge county, Wisconsin, at 
the age of twenty-one, and worked upon 
a farm, but three years later moved to 
Lake Mills, Jefferson county. 

He enlisted in May, 1861, in the 
Fourth Wisconsin infantry, Company 
E, but on account of his health was dis- 
charged in July, 1862. After recuper- 
ating a short time, he re-enlisted in Com- 
pany A, First New York artillery, as a 
private, and served until the close of the 
war. He then returned to Wisconsin, 
and established a nursery business at 
Columbus, but afterwards returned to 
Lake Mills, where he published the 
''''Jefferson County Uiiio?i.'" In 1870, 
he was appointed deputy United States 
marshal. In 1872, was elected ser- 
geant-at-arms of the state senate, and in 
1873 removed to Fort Atkinson, where he has since resided. 

Governor Hoard is indeed a self-made man. Starting without any capital, 
he has worked his paper up to that standard that it is useful to the community 
as well as financially productive for himself. It is almost entirely due to Mr. 
Hoard's efforts that the Jefferson County Dairymen's Association was organized 
in the year of 187 1, then the Wisconsin Dairymen's Association, and, lastly, 
the Northwestern Dairymen's Association. 

After the demand of the dairy department in his paper became so great, 
Mr. Hoard decided to issue a new paper devoted entirely to that branch. He 
called it " Hoard's Dairyman,'''' and throughout the country it is now consid- 
ered the best authority on all such matters. 

529 




530 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

It was in the spring of 1888, that Mr. Hoard, without any soHcitation on 
his part, was nominated by the Repubhcan party for governor of Wisconsin. 
He made many speeches during the campaign, and everywhere he received 
favorable comments. He was elected by a plurality of twenty thousand two 
hundred and seventy-three votes, but two years later he was defeated by George 
W. Peck, whose plurality was twenty-eight thousand three hundred and twenty. 

Of Governor Hoard's administration nothing but good can be said. Con- 
scientious, careful and upright, he did his duty in a manner that led to his re- 
nomination in 1890, with George W. Peck as his opponent. 

Events of 1889. 

The thirty-ninth session of the Wisconsin legislature convened at Madison, 
January 9, 1889, and adjourned April 19, 1889, after a session of one hundred 
days. 

The state senate was organized with Lieutenant-Governor George W^ Ry- 
land as president, Charles E. Bross, chief clerk, and T. J. George, sergeant-at- 
arms. The assembly was organized with Thomas B. Mills as speaker, E. D. 
Coe, chief clerk, and F. E. Parsons, sergeant-at-arms. 

Governor Hoard's inauguration brought to the capital the most influential 
members of his party, as well as a sprinkling of the liberal Democracy through- 
out the state. His inaugural address, which was delivered to the legislature 
Thursday, January 10, 1889, is characteristic of the man, and shows deep re- 
search into the internal affairs of the state. 

The governor's record of the state's finances, compiled from the reports of 
the secretary of state and state treasurer at the close of the fiscal year, Sep- 
tember 30, 1888, is as follows: 

Public Finances. 

Balance in treasury, October i, 1886 $ 736,720 24 

Receipts of state treasury for the biennial period 5,460,996 10 

Disbursements for same period 5, 447, 072 82 

Balance in treasury, September 30, 1888 750,702 44 

General fund 304, i39 °9 

School fund iSi'241 85 

School fund income 26,469 92 

Normal school fund 85,218 10 

University fund 39'24i 61 

Agricultural college fund 74)957 9^ 

Drainage fund 49)03S 54 

Dehnquent tax fund 948 95 

Depositfund 10,903 6^ 

Redemption fund 16 75 



WISCONSIN'S STATE GOVERNORS. 531 

St. Croix & Lake Superior R. R. trespass fund 2,067 4^ 

St. Croix & Lake Superior deposit fund 408 02 

Wis. R. R. Farm Mortgage Land Co. fund 4>577 95 

Allotment fund 916 54 

Manitowoc & Calumet swamp land fund 559 05 

Total as above 750,702 44 

Trust Funds. 
" The several trust funds of our state are shown to be in the following con- 
dition : 

At Interest. In Treasury. 

School fund $2,966,273 85 $151,241 85 

University fund 190,341 89 39,241 61 

Normal school fund 1,458,693 58 85,218 10 

Agricultural college fund 226,781 00 74,957 98 

Drainagefund 49'035 54 

$4,842,090 32 $399,695 08 

State Debt. 
"The public debt of the state, which was created in 1861-1863 for the 
purpose of maintaining the integrity of the Union, should serve as a constant 
reminder of what it cost Wisconsin, in part, to preserve a republican form of gov- 
ernment. This debt was converted into certificates of indebtedness to the 
several trust funds, and the amounts owing September 30, 1888, were as follows : " 

School fund $1,563,700 00 

Normal school fund 515,700 00 

University fund 11 1,000 00 

Agricultural college fund 60,600 00 

State Account with General Government. 

The governor, in his able message, in speaking of the state's affairs with the 
general government, said that the war tax levied by the general government 
against this state had been paid, and that there was due the state upon the set- 
tlement the sum of $8,409.43, which amount had been collected from the gen- 
eral government and paid into the state treasury. 

In referring to our financial aftairs with the general government, the gov- 
ernor said : '' Mr. George W. Burchard, who was appointed as agent of the 
state, succeeded in collecting from the general government $19,282.29, on ac- 
count of rejected and abandoned war claims. These claims had been rejected 
by the government years ago, and the amount thus collected is a clear gain to 
the state. Mr. Burchard also succeeded in securing, during the past two 
years, patents from the general government to the state for 21,746.21 acres 
of swamp lands, and 41,779.88 acres of indemnity lands." 



532 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

War Tax. 

It is confidently expected that congress will soon refund to the states 
all the actual money paid on account of the direct war tax levied in 1861. 
The amount due Wisconsin is $446,535.41, and was paid by the state as follows : 

By credit of allowances on war claims $264,247 65 

By credit of allowances for swamp land indemnity 141,878 05 

By credit of allowances for five per cent, of sales of public lands, 40,409 71 

When received these amounts should be transferred and paid as follows : 

To the general fund $264,247 65 

To the normal school fund 70,939 03 

To the drainage fund 70)939 02 

To the school fund 40,409 71 

Charitable and penal institutions, the Chronic Insane, the Bureau of 
Labor and Industrial Statistics, state fish interests, agriculture, the Wis- 
consin Dairymen's Association, railroads, the National Guard, and our edu- 
cational interests, all received due attention in the message. 

The worthy governor, in his message, so ably discussed the state's interest 
under the following head, that we reproduce the same, verbatim : 

"The Wisconsin Dairymen's Association. 

" Our dairy interests are fast becoming of the highest importance to the 
financial well-being of the state. When it is understood that the milk product 
of Wisconsin is worth annually over $20,000,000, and the state is taking rank 
as one of the foremost among the states of the Union in the prosecution of 
this industry, ample justification can be found for the appropriations which 
have been made to this association. It is to this organization that credit is 
largely due for the spread of such information as has enabled the state to so 
greatly prosper in this particular, and I would recommend an appropriation to 
the same of $2,000 for each of the years of 1889 and 1890. 

" In connection with this subject, I desire to call your attention to the 
necessity of more practical legislation against the manufacture and sale of 
fraudulent imitations of butter and cheese, and the sale of adulterated milk. 
Our present laws are found practically inoperative, because of the fact that 
there is no well-established agency in existence to secure their enforcement. 
The sale of imitation butter and cheese visits serious injury upon both con- 
sumer and producer. Upon the consumer, because he is not acquainted with 
the fraudulent character of the compound. He buys and eats what he sup- 
poses is pure butter and cheese, when the contrary is true to a large extent. 
Especially is this the case in hotels and boarding-houses. The law gives him 
no guaranty of the true character of his food. 



WISCONSIN'S STATE GOVERNORS. 



533 



" The producer is greatly injured, in that his market is destroyed and 
that largely through fraud. His business aids greatly in building up the state. 
In Wisconsin alone there is a hundred millions of dollars invested in the dairy 
business, all of it taxable for the support of the state. It would seem, then, to 
be nothing more than common justice that the state should protect the pro- 
ducer from competition based on a cheat. Several of our sister states, notably 
Iowa and Minnesota, to meet this evil and injustice, have each established a 
commission with the necessary powers and means conferred by law for the 
suppression of the fraudulent manufacture and sale of imitation butter and 
cheese as well as the sale of adulterated, impure or diluted milk. In Minne- 
sota the work of the commission has been mainly devoted to the suppression 
of fraud in the sale of dairy products. The following table, showing the result 
of the investigations of the official chemists of that state, is, however, a most sig- 
nificant argument in favor of the organized effort of society against such wide- 
spread and rapidly increasing adulteration of the food of the people : 



Name of Article. 




Milk 

Cheese 

Cream 

Butter 

Flour 

Bread 

Cream of tartar 

Bicarbonate of soda 

Baking ]30\vder 

Tea 

Coffee, ground , 

Coffee, unground, in packages 

M ustard 

Ground spices 

Vinegar 

Cider 

Sugar 

Colored sugars 

Confectionery 

Honey 

Maple sugar , 

Maple syrup 

Lard 

Olive Oil 

Total 



The Bennett School Law. 

The Republican legislature at this session passed the compulsory educa- 
tion law, which is generally known as the " Bennett School Law." Under 



534 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

this act every parent or other person, having under his control a child between 
the ages of seven and fourteen years, was required to cause such child to at- 
tend some public or private day school, for a period of not less than twelve 
weeks in each year. The penalty fixed for neglect of such duty by the parents 
or person having custody of such child was a sum not less than three dollars 
nor more than twenty dollars for each offense, and a failure for each week or 
a portion of a week under the act constituted a distinct and separate oftense. 
A like penalty was also imposed upon any person having control of a child 
who evaded the provisions of the act by a willful statement concerning the age 
of such child, or the time such child had attended school. Under this act all 
children within the state between the ages of seven and fourteen were, in fact, 
placed in the custody and under control of the various boards of education. 

The act also authorized such school boards to prosecute in their official 
names, and the fines and penalties, when collected, were to be paid to the school 
treasurer of such city, town or district. Under the act, any child between the 
ages of nine and fourteen years, who, without leave and against the will of his 
parent, guardian or other person, habitually absented himself from the school 
to which he was sent or directed to be sent, was deemed a truant child, and 
was liable to be committed in the same manner as dependent children for a 
term not exceeding two years. 

Under Section IX. of this celebrated statute, children under thirteen years 
were prohibited from working in factories, shops, mines, stores and other places 
of business or amusement, except upon a permit, granted by the county judge 
in the county where such child resided. 

Perhaps the portion of the act which was most keenly felt in many parts 
of the state was Section V., which reads as follows : 

"No school shall be regarded as a school under this act, unless there shall 
be taught therein, as a part of the elementary education of children, reading, 
writing, arithmetic and United States history, in the English language." 

The Bennett law was in many cases wise and beneficial, but the objec- 
tionable features of the act, which virtually took the control of the child from 
the parents and placed it under the management of the various school boards, 
was considered so detrimental to the interests of the people that the whole act 
was condemned. The passage of this law by the Republican legislature was 
without doubt one of the principal causes of the overthrow of the Republican 
party in the state at the November election of 1890. This law was promptly 
repealed by the Democratic legislature in 1891. 

At West Superior, the strike of the workingmen was so great that the 
National Guard was ordered by the governor to the scene to preserve order. 

On April 10, Ex-Governor Leonard J. Farwell died, and on July 21st, Ex- 
Governor Nelson Dewey passed away. 



WISCONSIN'S STATE GOVERNORS. 535 

Events of 1890. 

The Republican state convention placed in nomination the following 
ticket: For governor, William D. Hoard; lieutenant-governor, Joseph B. 
Treat; secretary of state, Edwin D. Coe; state treasurer, Albert G. Geilfuss; 
attorney-general, James O'Neill; state superintendent, Alonzo D. Harvey; 
railroad commissioner, Syver V.. Brimi ; commissioner of insurance, David 
Schreiner. 

The state Democratic convention placed in nomination the following 
ticket: For governor, George W. Peck; lieutenant-governor, Charles Jonas; 
secretary of state, Thomas J. Cunningham ; state treasurer, John Hunner; 
attorney-general, James L. O'Connor; state superintendent, Oliver E. Wells; 
railroad commissioner, Thomas Thompson; commissioner of insurance, Wilbur 
M. Root. 

From the date of the various conventions, each party organized a me- 
thodical and close canvass throughout the state. The principal features of the 
campaign were the tariff issue and the "Bennett School Law," which law the 
Democracy promised to repeal in event of their success. The result of the 
November election was almost as much of a surprise to the Democracy as to 
the Republicans. 

The whole Democratic ticket was elected by overwhelming majorities. 
Governor Peck's plurality being 28,320, while his majority over all was 11,627. 
The Prohibition candidate, Mr. Alexander, received 11,246 votes and Mr* 
May, the Union Labor candidate, 5,447. 

Wisconsin's representatives in the fifty-second congress were Clinton 
Babbitt, Charles Earwig, Allen R. Bushnell, John L. Mitchell, Geo. H. Brick- 
ner, Lucus M. Miller, Frank P. Couburn, Nils P. Haugen, and Thomas 
Lynch. 

The eleventh census, which was taken this year, gave Wisconsin a popu- 
lation of 1,686,880. 




Tomahawk Lake, Wis. 



Chapter LXVII. 



Administrations of Governor Peck. 
1S91-1893. 

Early Life and History of Wisconsin's Funny (lovernor. — Legislation. — The Supreme 
Court Puts a Quietus on Gerrymandering. — State Treasury Cases. — General Events. — 
Political. 

George Wilbur Peck, the fifth Democratic governor Wisconsin has ever 
known, was born September 28, 1840, in Jefferson county, New York. His 
parents moved to Wisconsin when he was three years old and settled at Cold 
Spring, Jeft'erson county, where he received his early education. The family, 
after living but a few years at Cold Spring, removed to Whitewater, where Mr. 

Peck's education was completed before 
he was fifteen years old. He now de- 
cided to learn the printers' trade, and 
entered the office of the Whitewater 
Register. When he had learned his 
trade thoroughly he took the position as 
foreman of the Whitewater Repiiblicati. 

In i860, Mr. Peck married the ac- 
complished Miss Francena Rowley, of 
Delavan, Wisconsin. He then purchased 
a half interest in the Jefferson County 
Republican^ and became the leading man 
of the concern, doing the mechanical 
work and attending to the affairs in 
general. He staid with this paper for 
two years, then sold out and went to 
work in Madison on the State 'journal, 
where he remained about one year. 

During the war he was a member of 
the Fourth Wisconsin cavalry, and was 
soon commissioned as second lieutenant of Company L. He entered the 
army in 1863, and was mustered out in 1S66, having served one year in Texas 
after the hostilities with the south had ceased. Upon his returning north he 
started \\\q. Representative ■xX. Ripon. In 1867, he was elected city treasurer of 
that beautiful little city. Soon after this his writings attracted the attention 
of Mr. M. M. Pomeroy, better known as Brick Pomeroy, who offered him a 
salary of forty dollars per week if he would go to New York and work for him. 




538 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

Mr. Peck readily consented. He remained in New York about two years, 
when he came to I-ia Crosse and worked on the La Crosse Democrat, then 
owned by Mr. Pomeroy. This paper at one time had the largest circulation 
of any in the United States. He staid two years longer with Mr. Pomeroy, 
then the paper was sold and Mr. Peck bought an interest in it. He was 
elected chief of police at La Crosse, and served one year in that capacity 
with intelligence and popularity. In the legislature of 1874-75, Mr. Peck was 
chief clerk of the assembly, and, in Mr. Taylor's regime, he was assistant state 
treasury agent for a year. 

In 1874, Mr. Peck sold out his interest in the La Crosse Democrat and 
established the La Crosse Sim^ which paper he published for four years pre- 
vious to his removal to Milwaukee. He then moved his printing material to 
Milwaukee, and established Feck' s Sun, which soon won for itself a prominent 
place among humorous papers, its circulation at one time reaching eighty 
thousand per week. It is said that for ten years George W. Peck was regarded 
as one of the most original, versatile and accomplished writers in the 
country. 

It is very probable that Mr. Peck made more money as a newspaper man 
than did any other man in the United States. His income was said to equal 
that received by the president of the United States during the years ranging 
from 1880 to 1885. Even in his youth the governor was a wag, and always a 
hail fellow, well met. 

In 1880, Mr. Peck was chairman of the Democratic city and county 
committee of Milwaukee, but from that time on gave his entire attention to 
his newspaper, until he was nominated and elected for governor in the fall of 
1890. At the time of his nomination the state was in great uncertainty re- 
garding the taritif issue and the Bennett school law. These two questions in 
reality gave the state to the Democracy. 

Governor Peck is rather above the medium size, and somewhat portly in 
figure. His good nature not only appeared in Feck's Sim, but in everyday 
life. Although his second term has not yet expired, the people are satisfied 
that his official duties will be discharged in a manner that will be a credit to 
himself as well as to the great commonwealth which he represents. 

The fortieth session of the AVisconsin legislature, the legislature which the 
people had elected for the purpose of bringing about the many needed re- 
forms, convened January 14, 1891, and adjourned April 25, 1891, after a 
session of one hundred and one days. 

The senate was organized with Lieutenant-Governor Charles Jonas as 
president, John P. Hume, chief clerk, and John A. Barney, sergeant-at-arms. 
The assembly was organized with James A. Hogan as speaker, George W. 
Porth, chief clerk, and Patrick Whalen, sergeant-at-arms. 



WISCONSIN'S STATE GOVERNORS. 539 

The election of Governor Peck transformed the celebrated humorous 
writer into a man who now represents and has at heart the welfare of the 
state at large, without respect to party lines, as the introductory portion of 
his forcible and pointed message, delivered before the legislature on Wednes- 
day, January 15, 1891, fully illustrates : 

^'■Felloiu Citizens of the Senate and Assembly : 

"Your honorable body having organized for the transaction of business, it 
becomes my duty to present to you such recommendations as seem to me for 
the best interests of the people of the state. 

"The electors of Wisconsin have spoken in favor of reform in conducting 
the business of the state. It remains for you to see that the will of the 
people, as expressed, is carried out. A short business session, with economy 
for your watchword, the passage of as few bills as possible, consistent with 
the needs of the state; little interference with existing good laws; the repeal 
of bad laws, and the amending of such as are defective, will create a feeling of 
confidence on the i)art of the people, and help to make prosperous and happy 
all of your constituents. The way to bring about a short session is for every 
member to do his duty. The principal cause of long sessions is delay in the 
action of committees. A few committees that do not attend promi^tly to 
business, and allow bills to accumulate on their hands, cause the work. of the 
session to drag, and hinder those who are willing and anxious to transact busi- 
ness and adjourn. The presiding officer should keep a close watch on the com- 
mittees, and not hesitate to call attention to those who cause unnecessary delay." 

Unnecessary Offices. 

"The pledge that state expenses would be reduced to the point necessary 
for an economical administration of state affairs, should be constantly borne 
in mind. 

"During the past twelve years more than seventy official positions have 
been created by express acts of the legislature, and the reports of the secre- 
tary show that some two hundred and sixty-five more persons drew pay from 
the state treasury for personal services in 1889 than in 1878. 

"These are facts sufficient in themselves to justify, if not demand, the 
closest scrutiny and investigation, to the end that unnecessary officials may 
be dispensed with, and unnecessary expense cut off. 

"I recommend that this matter, together with all proposed legislation 
looking to the curtailing of the salary list and the reduction of expenses, be 
referred to a special joint committee of both houses, appointed for that pur- 
pose, in order that such action in the direction indicated, as the legislature 
may take, may be well considered, wise and effective." 

After scheduling the various state offices and showing the increase of of- 
ficials since 1878, together with the increase in expenses entailed thereby during 



540 



HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 



said i^eriods, the governor recommended a reduction in the expenses in the 
following offices: The dairy and food commissioner, state timber agents, 
and game wardens. In closing this i)art of the report, the governor used 
the following emphatic language : 

" It must be remembered that all special interests and individuals, dis- 
posed for private purposes to retain useless officials, and continue the pay- 
ment of unnecessary salaries, will attend your sessions, and, by every means, 
in person, and by their agents, urge upon you the necessity of protecting their 
interests, while the whole people will be represented by no paid attorney or 
lobbyists, and their interests will be wholly unprotected unless you fearlessly 
perform your duties, and see to it that impartial investigation and unbiased 
judgment take the place of special pleading and selfish interests. 

"Let it be demonstrated that the cause of the whole people is safe in your 
hands." 

The message contained the following statement pertaining to the state's 
monetary affairs : 

Cash Balances in State Treasury. 

General fund $ 23,599 3^ 

School fund 347,872 97 

School fund income 24,004 09 

Normal school fund 167,999 5^ 

University fund 4)99° 39 

Agricultural college fund 41851 ^° 

Drainage fund 40,141 87 

Delinquent tax fund 1,269 ^4 

Deposit fund 11,507 41 

Redemption fund 28 42 

St. Croix trespass fund 2,067 46 

St. Croix deposit fund 408 02 

Wis. R. R. Mort. Land Co 4,549 81 

Manitowoc & Calumet Swamp Land Co 2,164 53 

Columbia & Sauk Indem. Land Co. fund 2,606 74 

Allotment fund 916 54 

Total $638,977 87 

Balances as treasurer ex-officio : 

Treas. Board of Regents, University $15,765 16 

Treas. Board of Regents, Normal schools 8,034 12 

Bank redemption 5,015 00 

Soldiers' Orphan fund 1,428 43 

Deposit per cent 2,781 29 

Total $32,424 00 



WISCONSIN'S STATE GOVERNORS. 541 

The message also went quite deeply into the question of the interest on state 
funds, and pointed out to the legislature that the laws of 1878, which required the 
state treasurer to deposit and keep in the vaults of the treasury such moneys 
belonging to the state, had been grossly violated; that for many years the 
law had been systematically evaded by the state treasurers, who deposited most 
of the funds of the state in various banks for the purpose of personal gain. 

The governor concluded this portion of the message by saying: 

"The attorney-general will, therefore, in due time, institute such pro- 
ceedings in the courts as he shall regard proper to recover such interest 
moneys. The amount at stake is considerable. The labors involved are 
likely to be great, and it may be desirable that a moderate sum for contingent 
expenses should be provided to further the prosecution of these proceedings." 

The message also suggested the passage of a law providing for the semi- 
annual payment of taxes. After dealing with the public school question, the 
factory labor, the Bennett law, the election laws, charitable, reformatory and 
penal institutions, the National Guard and the world's fair, he said: 

"In conclusion I desire to call your attention to the fact that many of 
the reports of the different departments, boards and commissions of the state 
call for extra appropriations, and to remind you that a large number of new 
projects, all calling for money, will be urged upon you. While many of these 
demands may be in a measure meritorious, and at some future time worthy of 
careful consideration, I believe the present condition and temper of our people 
will not warrant unusual or extraordinary appropriations." 

The legislature during its session passed an unusual amount of necessary 
measures, and repealed and modified numerous acts. Among the important 
acts passed were the Australian ballot system, which is now in operation, and 
an act apportioning the state into senate and assembly districts. This bill 
met the fate it so richly deserved, on account of its unconstitutionality. 

On January 28, 1891, the Hon. William F. \'ilas, the ex-secretary of the 
interior under the Cleveland administration, and one of Wisconsin's most 
brilliant lawyers, was elected United States senator. 

On June 17th, Ex-Governor Harrison Ludington died, and on August 27th, 
Dr. Lyman C. Draper, the able and efficient secretary of the Wisconsin State 
Historical Society, and one of its most active workers, died. 

Events of 1892. 

The supreme court of the state having held that the apportionment of 
the state into assembly and senatorial districts was unconstitutional, the gov- 
ernor therefore, called a special session of the legislature, which met on June 
i8th and adjourned July ist, after again apportioning the state into senate 
and assembly districts. The question of the constitutionality of the new law 



542 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

was again decided by the supreme court to be unconstitutional, upon which 
the governor called a second special session, which met on October 17th and 
adjourned October 27th, after having passed an act apportioning the state 
into senate and assembly districts. These cases were generally known through- 
out the state as the gerrymandering cases, and reflected little credit upon the 
originators of these unconstitutional laws. 

The Gerrymandering Cases. 

Of all the cases tried in the supreme court during the last decade, none 
has excited more attention than the celebrated case entitled, "The State <fx 
rel. Attorney-General vs. Cunningham, Secretary of State." 

On February 2, 1891, leave was granted the attorney-general to bring an 
action in the supreme court in behalf of the State vs. Thomas J. Cunningham, 
secretary of state, to perpetually enjoin and restrain him and his successors in 
office, from giving or pubHshing notices of the election of senators and mem- 
bers of assembly in the various districts, constituted by Chapter 482, Laws of 
189 1, entitled, "An Act to Apportion the State into Senate and Assembly Dis- 
tricts," which act was approved April 25, 1891. 

Upon the same day that leave was granted by the court, the attorney- 
general filed an information or complaint in that court on behalf of the state, 
pursuant to such order. The information was founded upon Section 3 and 
amended Sections 4 and 5 of Article IV., of the Constitution. These sections 
of the constitution are as follows : 

" Section 3. The legislature shall provide by law for an enumeration of 
the inhabitants of the state in the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty- 
five, and, at the end of every ten years thereafter; and at their first session 
after such an enumeration, and also after each enumeration made by the au- 
thority of the United States, the legislature shall apportion and district anew 
the members of the senate and assembly, according to the number of inhabi- 
tants, excluding Indians not taxed, and soldiers and officers of the United States 
army and navy. 

" Section 4. The members of the assembly shall be chosen biennially by 
single districts, on the Tuesday succeeding the first Monday of November, 
after the adoption of this amendment, by the qualified electors of the several 
districts. Such districts to be bounded by county, precinct, town or ward 
lines, to consist of contiguous territory, and be in as compact form as practi- 
cable. 

"Section 5. The senators shall be elected by single districts of conven- 
ient contiguous territory, at the same time and in the same manner as members 
of the assembly are required to be chosen ; and no assembly district shall be 
divided in the formation of a senate district. The senate districts shall be 



WISCONSIN'S STATE GOVERNORS. 543 

numbered in the regular series, and the senators shall be chosen alternately 
from the odd and even numbered districts. The senators elected or holding 
over at the time of the adoption of this amendment shall continue in office till 
their successors are duly elected and qualified ; and after the adoption of this 
amendment all senators shall be chosen for the term of four years." 

Chief-Justice Lyon, in making the statement of proceedings in the case, 
uses the following language : 

"The information charges that Ch, 482, Laws of 189 1, violates the fore- 
going provisions of the constitution in that : (i) It does not 'Apportion and 
district anew the members of the senate and assembly according to the number 
of inhabitants, excluding Indians not taxed, and soldiers and officers of the 
United States army and navy,' as required by Sec. 3 of Art. IV. (2) Many of 
the assembly districts which the act attempts to form are not ' bounded by 
county, precinct, town or ward lines' within the meaning of that requirement 
in amended Sec. IV. (3) Many of the districts are not ' in as compact form 
as practicable ' as required by the same section. (4) Some senate districts do 
not consist *■ of convenient contiguous territory ' as required by amended Sec. 
5, of Art. IV. (5) The senate districts are so numbered that the electors in 
certain counties and parts of counties representing 231,218 inhabitants, who 
were last allowed by law to vote for senators at the general election of 
1SS8, will not be permitted to do so again until such election in 1894, if Chapter 
482 be held a valid law, while electors representing 168,809 inhabitants, who 
were permitted to vote for senators at the general election in 1890, will, if such 
act be upheld, be allowed to vote again for senators at such election in 1892. 
And further that the present senators in the odd-numbered districts, under 
Chapter 482, will represent for the next two years (or until January, 1894, 
when their terms will expire) 387,122 inhabitants who had no voice in their 
election, and 530,289 inhabitants who were permitted to participate in their 
election. 

"The information sets out the number of inhabitants in each senate and as- 
sembly district in the state as formed by Chapter 482, and specifies many in- 
stances in which it is claimed such apportionment violates each and all the con- 
stitutional provisions and restrictions above mentioned. It alleges the popula- 
tion of the state to be 1,686,880, according to the enumeration made by author- 
ity of the United States in 1890, and hence, that each assembly district should 
have been formed to contain about 16,868 inhabitants, and each senate district 
about 51,117 inhabitants, whereas the population of the senate districts at- 
tempted to be formed by Chapter 482 varies from 38,690 in the twenty-second 
district to 68,601 in the twenty-seventh district, and the population of the as- 
sembly districts varies from 6,823 in tlie district consisting of the Third Ward 
of Milwaukee, to 38,801 in the district consisting of the County of La Crosse. 



544 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

It should be stated, however, that the population in a large number of the 
legislative districts approximates quite closely the numerical unit of representa- 
tion. 

" It is believed that the foregoing statement of contents of the informa- 
tion will sufficiently explain the grounds upon which the validity of Chapter 
482 is attacked, and it is not necessary to go more into detail." 

" Immediately upon the filing of the information, and on the day the same 
was filed, the secretary of state admitted due service of the summons herein, 
and by his attorney, E. S. Bragg, Esq., entered his appearance to the action, 
and interposed a motion to dismiss the information, for the following reasons 
stated in the motion : 

1. " ' The plaint states no facts showing the relator to have any interest 
in the subject-matter thereof which entitles him to a standing in court to peti- 
tion for relief from grievances real or supposed.' 

2. " ' It appears upon the face of the plaint that this court has no juris- 
diction of the subject-matter thereof; and that its recital and averments state 
no wrongs, real or supposed, cognizable in a court of law or equity.' 

3. " ' That the plaint of the relator fails to show any violation of the con- 
stitution of Wisconsin, either in letter or spirit, in the bill or act apportioning 
the members of the legislature for the State of Wisconsin upon the federal 
enumeration of population of 1890.' " 

Edward S. Bragg, counsel for the defendant, filed an extensive brief, bear- 
ing upon the constitutionality of the act. Charles E. Esterbrook appeared as 
counsel for the plaintiff and George W. Bird and John C. Spooner counsel for 
the relator. Judge Orton, in rendering his opinion in this celebrated case, said : 

" This case comes into this court, within its original jurisdiction, by bill in 
chancery on the relation of the attorney-general on behalf of the state, pray- 
ing for an injunction against Thomas J. Cunningham, secretary of state, to re- 
strain him as such officer from carrying into execution Chapter 482, Laws of 
189 1, commonly called the 'Apportionment Act,' on the ground of its un- 
constitutionality ; and more particularly that they refrain from giving the notices 
of the election of members of the senate and assembly as apportioned and dis- 
tricted by said act. 

''The complaint informs the court, in substance, that the legislature of 
189 1, in attempting by said act to apportion and district anew the members of 
the senate and assembly, according to the enumeration of the population of 
the state by the United States census of 1890, did so in violation of the re- 
strictions contained in Sections 3-5, Article IV., of the constitution of this state, 
in the following particulars, viz.: First, the senate and assembly districts were 
not made ' according to the number of inhabitants, excluding Indians not 
taxed, and soldiers and officers of the United States army and navy ; ' second, 



WISCONSIN'S STATE GOVERNORS. 545 

the assembly districts were not ' bounded by county lines ; ' third, they were 
not made ' to consist of contiguous territory ; ' fourth, they were not made ' in 
as compact form as practicable; ' fifth, the senate districts were not made ' of 
contiguous and convenient territory.' 

" The complaint more particularly shows that by the last census the state 
contained a population of 1,686,880, and by an equal apportionment of the 
inhabitants each senate district should have contained 51,117, and each as- 
sembly district 16,868, inhabitants, as near as maybe. By said apportionment 
many senate districts contain the number of inhabitants, omitting fractions of 
a thousand, as follows: Second district, 38,000; fifth district, 08, 000 ; seventh 
district, 65,000; eighth district, 43,000; eleventh district, 42,000; fourteenth 
district, 45,000 ; sixteenth district, 57,000 ; seventeenth district, 61,000; eight- 
eenth district, 44,000; twentieth district, 42,000; twenty-second district, 
3 7,000 ; twenty-fourth district, 58,000 ; twenty-seventh district, 68,000 ; thirty- 
second district, 38,000; thirty-third district, 63,000. Many assembly districts 
contain the number of inhabitants as follows: 38,000, 6,000, 25,000, 7,000, 
24,000, 11,000, 22,000, 11,000, 23,000, 10,000, 22.000, 11,000, 21,000, 10,000, 
20,000, 11,000, 20,000, 11,000. The highest difference between both the 
senate and assembly districts is over 30,000. 

"The case was heard on demurrer to the complaint (admitting the facts), 
based on the grounds to the effect : First, that the court has no jurisdiction 
of the subject-matter; and, second, that the complaint fails to show any viola- 
tion of the constitution. These two general questions, as well as others subor- 
dinate thereto, were very ably argued by eminent counsel on both sides; and 
their arguments and the authorities cited by them have rendered the court very 
great aid in the elucidation and decision of the case. 

"As a preliminary question, it has already been decided that this case 
could not be brought by a private relator, because no one has any private in- 
terest in the subject-matter. The matters being exclusively piiblicl juris, the 
case must be brought by the attorney-general on his own relation, representing 
the whole state and the people thereof This is the form and title in which the 
case now stands in this court and in which it must be sustained, if at all. That 
being the most difficult and important question, we shall enter at once upon 
the consideration of the original jurisdiction of this court to issue the injunc- 
tion to restrain the secretary of state from executing the said act, which is the 
first ground of the demurrer. 

•' In almost every case which has been brought in this court within its 
original jurisdiction, on the relation of the attorney-general in the name of the 
state, the jurisdiction of this court, has been challenged and discussed by able 
counsel, and sustained by the court in many learned and elaborate opinions. 
The subject-matter in these cases was claimed and held to be publici juris, and 



546 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

involved the original jurisdiction of the court to issue the various writs oi habeas 
■:orpiis, mandamus, injunction, quo warranto and certiorari. It would seem, 
therefore, that the jurisdiction of the court and its limitations in nearly all mat- 
ters of great public interest and concern had been already judiciahy deter- 
mined. The highest authorities that can be consulted on the question of the 
court's jurisdiction in this case are these various decisions of the court. The 
precise subject-matter of this case was not in any of these cases, but the analor 
gies are sufficiently close to make them of the highest authority in this case, 
and some of them are clearly in point. We start upon this discussion with the 
benefit of these decisions, which renders the question far less difficult." 

Upon the question of jurisdiction, the able judge cited voluminous author- 
ities, among which were the following cases : State ex rel. Attorney-General 
vs. Messmore, in quo ivarranto, 14 Wisconsin, 115; State ex rel. Attorney- 
General vs. M., L. S. and W. R. Co., in quo warranto, 45 Wisconsin, 579; 
State ex rel. Attorney- General vs. O'Neill, 24 Wisconsin, 152; Attorney- 
General ex rel. Bashford vs. Barstow, 4 Wisconsin, 567. 

Upon the question of the constitutionality of the apportionment act, the 
honorable judge cited, among others, the following decisions : Opinion of 
Judges, 6 Cush., 575-578; Warren 7'i\ Charleston, 2 Gray, 84; Kinney vs. 
Syracuse, 30 Barb., 349; People ex rel. Attorney- General vs. Holihan, 29 
Mich., 116; People (^x ;y/. Attorney-General vs. Bradley, 36 Mich., 447, and 
State ex rel. Gardner vs. Newark, 40 N. J. Law, 297. 

In commenting upon the violation of the constitution, the court says: 

"But, again, this apportionment act violates and destroys one of the 
highest and most sacred rights and privileges of the people of this state, guar- 
anteed to them by the ordinance of 1787, and the constitution, and that is 
'equal representation in the legislature.' This, also, is a matter of the highest 
public interest and concern, to give this court jurisdiction in this cas'e. If the 
remedy for these great pubhc wrongs cannot be found in this court, it exists 
nowhere. It would be idle and useless to recommit such an apportionment to 
the voluntary action of the body that made it. But it is sufficient that these 
questions are judicial and not legislative. The legislature that passed the act 
is not assailed by this proceeding, nor is the constitutional province of that equal 
and co-ordinate department of the government invaded. The law itself is the 
only object of judicial inquiry, and its constitutionality is the only question to 
be decided. 

" The particulars in which the constitution has been violated by this act 
Avill be more fully considered by my brethren. It is proper to say that perfect 
exactness in the apportionment according to the number of inhabitants is 
neither required or possible. But there should be as close an approximation to 
exactness as possible, and this is the utmost limit for the exercise of legislative 



WISCONSIN'S STATE GOVERNORS. 547 

discretion. If, as in this case, there is such a wide and bold departure from 
this constitutional rule that it cannot possibly be justified by the exercise of 
any judgment or discretion, and that evinces an intention on the part of the 
legislature to utterly ignore and disregard the rule of the constitution in order 
to promote some other object than a constitutional apportionment, then the 
conclusion is inevitable that the legislature did not use any judgment or dis- 
cretion whatever. The above disparity in the number of inhabitants in the 
legislative districts is so great that it cannot be overlooked as mere careless dis- 
crepancies or slight errors in calculation. The differences are too material, great 
and glaring, and deprive too many of the people of the state of all representa- 
tion in the legislature, to be allowed to pass as mere errors of judgment. They 
bear upon their face the intrinsic evidence that no judgment or discretion was 
exercised, and that they were made intentionally and willfully for some im- 
proper purpose or for some private end foreign to constitutional duty and obli- 
gation. It is not an ' apportionment' in any sense of the word. It is a di- 
rect and palpable violation of the constitution. The breaking up of the lines 
and boundaries of counties by the new assembly districts must have been in- 
tentional. It was not necessary in a single instance, and there is no possible 
margin for the exercise of any legislative discretion. This is a most important 
restriction on the power of the legislature to make an apportionment. The 
people have a commendable pride in their own counties, and have more or 
less a common feeling and interests, and participate together in all their county 
affairs. They have a right to be represented by their own members of the 
legislature, and the members themselves can better represent them and pro- 
mote and protect their interests. They know each other, and have closer re- 
lations Avith each other. These considerations, though common, must not be 
underrated or overlooked. When these restrictions were under discussion in 
the constitutional convention, they were supported and adopted upon the ex- 
press ground that they would prevent the legislature from gerrymandering the 
state. These restrictions were regarded by the very able members of the con- 
vention as absolutely necessary to secure to the people that sacred right of a 
free people — of equal representation in the legislature. The right of the peo- 
ple to make their own laws through their own representatives, so fundamental 
in and essential to a free governmelit, the convention sought to guard by these 
restrictions. That most dangerous doctrine, that these and other restrictions 
upon the power of the legislature are merely declaratory, and not mandatory, 
should not be encouraged even to the extent of discussing the question. The 
convention, in making a constitution, had a higher duty to perform than to 
give the legislature advice. Judge Cooley, in his great work on Constitutional 
Limitations, says: 'The courts tread upon very dangerous ground when they 
venture to apply the rules which distinguish between directory and mandatory 
statutes to the provisions of the constitution.' " 



548 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

In concluding, the worthy judge said: "The motion in the nature of a 
demurrer is overruled and the defendant has leave to answer within twenty- 
days. The decision of the court is unanimous. The Chief Justice and Jus- 
tice Pinney will file separate opinions." 

Justice Pinney, in reviewing the case in its various features, said: 

"This suit is in substance and form the suit of the State of Wisconsin, as a 
political body, on the information or relation of the attorney-general, the 
proper law officer of the state, made upon complaint to him by a private cit- 
izen. It is not essential to the jurisdiction of the court that beyond the at- 
torney-general there should be any private relator; and the connection of a 
private relator with the suit is that only of being liable for costs in case it turns 
out that it was wrongly instituted or is improperly prosecuted. When a suit 
immediately concerns the crown or government alone, the attorney-general or 
solicitor- general proceeds purely by way of information. When it does not 
immediately concern the rights of the crown or government, its officers depend 
on the relation of some person whose name is inserted in the information, and 
who is termed the relator. And as the suit, though in the name of the at- 
torney-general or solicitor-general, is then carried on under the direction of 
the relator, he is considered as answerable to the court and to the parties for 
the propriety of the suit and the conduct of it ; and he may be responsible for 
costs if the suit should appear to have been improperly instituted or in any 
stage of it to be improperly conducted. Still, however, a relator in such cases 
is by no means indispensable, and the attorney-general, may, if he pleases, 
proceed in the suit without one. Sometimes it happens that the relator has an 
interest in the matter in dispute, in connection with the crown or government, 
of an injury to which he has a right to complain. In such a case his personal 
complaint is joined to and incorporated with the information given to the court 
by the officer of the crown or government, and then they form together an in- 
formation or bill, and are so termed. Story Eq. PI., 8, ut supra; Mitf. Eq. 
PI., 117, 118; Attorney- General 7^ J-. Vivian, i Russ., 236, 237. If it appeared 
that the relator had no interest, the bill was dismissed, but the information was 
retained. 

"The controversy of this case is with the secretary of state, and not with 
the Chapter 482 which he intends to execute. The proceeding is against him, 
not against the act nor against the legislature. No one contends, so far as I am 
aware, that the court, by any process, direct or indirect, can exercise any 
appellate or supervisory power by way of review of the acts of the legislature, 
or that the court may in any way or manner sit in judgment upon any of its 
acts relating to matters of legislative discretion, or within its pohtical power,^ 
or in respect to which its power is not restricted or limited by the constitution. 
The position asserted by the court is that in any controversy of a judicial 



WISCONSIN'S STATE GOVERNORS. 549 

nature, properly brought before the court, in which the validity of an act of 
the legislature is challenged on the ground that it is in conflict with the consti- 
tution, the court has the constitutional and rightful authority to decide whether 
the act is void or not for that reason, and that its decision on that question is 
final, and conclusive in all courts and places, and against all persons, whether 
acting in an official capacity or otherwise. It is to be presumed that no intel- 
ligent lawyer is to be found at this day who will assert the contrary, 
nor was this position really questioned at the argument. The respon- 
dent relies upon Chapter 482 as his authority for the course which he 
gives out that he intends and threatens to pursue in the matter of noti- 
fying the approaching election. In this manner the validity of the act is, 
in a legal sense, brought into question collaterally or incidentally, though 
the res or subject-matter of the information is the alleged meditated and threat- 
ened illegal and unauthorized course of action of the respondent. This, and this 
only, is the subject of the suit, and not Chapter 482, although in a practical 
point of view the decision will result in holding the act either valid or void. 
Coming before the court as it does, in the manner and for the purpose stated, 
the question arises in the determination of a judicial controversy existing with 
the respondent as to his proposed conduct, and it is clear that the court must 
have the power to decide upon the validity of the act in order to decide the 
case before it, 

*'In the organization of the government into three departments, each 
measurably independent of the other — the executive, judicial and legislative — 
the political power of the state was vested in the executive and legislative de- 
partments and the judicial power in the courts. The political organization, 
called the * state,* is created for the protection and enforcement of the rights 
and liberties of the ])eople. Its sovereignty or power of rightful control is for 
the protection of personal and of political rights as well. Prominent among 
these rights and liberties is the right of citizens to participate in the elec- 
tion; to have their pr()i)er voice and influence and just representation in 
the representative branch of the government as members and as pos- 
sessors of the sovereignty vested in the people outside of the constitution 
and not delegated by it. It is this sovereignty, these rights, these privileges 
and liberties of the people, which this court, by virtue of its prerogative juris- 
diction has an undoubted right to protect and enforce, as against unconstitu- 
tional and illegal attack from all sources whatever. Chief-Justice Ryan, iii re 
Ida Louisa Pierce, 44 Wis., 431-433, speaking of the original jurisdiction of the 
court and the purposes for which it exists, uses the following pertinent language 
on this subject : 'The words, "liberties of the people," in a judicial sense, mean 
the aggregate political rights and franchises of the people of the state-at-large. 
. . . . The liberties of the people here and elsewhere are not only essen- 



550 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

tially subject to the ordinary jurisdiction of the courts, not only imimpaired by 
them, but are absolutely dependent upon them. The supremacy of original 
judicial processes enters into the liberties of the people, and is essential to them. 
Order is essential to all liberty and judicial supremacy is essential to order.' 

"The rule is general with reference to the enactment of all legislative 
bodies that the courts cannot inquire into the motives of the legislators in pass- 
ing them, except as they may be disclosed on the face of the acts or inferable 
from their operation, considered with reference to the condition of the country 
or existing legislation. The motives of the legislators, considered as the pur- 
poses they had in view, will always be presumed to be to accomplish that 
which follows as the natural and reasonable effect of their enactment;" and 
"we must not suppose the legislature to have acted improperly, unadvisedly or 
from any other than public motives, under any circumstances, when acting 
within the limits of its authority. 

"The rules of apportionment and the restrictions upon the power of the 
legislature are very simple and brief, (i) By Section 3 the apportionment is 
required to be 'according to the number of inhabitants, excluding,' etc. (2) 
By Section 4, the members of the assembly shall be chosen annually (a) by 
single districts . . . . (^) such districts to be bounded by county, pre- 
cinct, ward or town lines; (c) to consist of contiguous territory; and {d) to 
be in as compact form as practicable. (3) The senators shall be chosen 
(«) by single districts (h) of convenient (c) contiguous territory; and (d) no 
assembly district shall be divided in the formation of senate districts. Look- 
ing at the scope of these limitations, it is obvious that it was intended to secure 
in the future that which had been adopted and secured and enjoyed almost 
from the origin of popular representative government in this country to the 
time the constitution was adopted, 'proportionate representation,' and ' appor- 
tionment as nearly equal as practicable among the several counties for the 
election of members ' of the legislature, as it had existed in Wisconsin since 
1836. 

" The provision of Sec. 3 for an apportionment ' according to the number 
of inhabitants ' is the exact equivalent of the provisions of the ordinance of 
1787, of a ' proportionate representation of the people in the legislature,' and 
it is an incident not without its value that the first apportionment act passed 
under the constitution at the session of 185 1, was vetoed by Governor Dewey 
on the ground of a very considerable disproportion in the number of inhabi- 
tants in senate and assembly districts as constituted by it ; that it was unconsti- 
tutional as not being ' according to the number of inhabitants ;' and the veto 
was sustained, with only twelve votes in the assembly against it (Assembly 
Journal, 1851, pp. 810-812); but the disproportion was far less significant 
than in the act of 1801. 



WISCONSIN'S STATE GOVERNORS. 551 

" In the act under consideration there are twenty instances in which coun- 
ties have been divided in the formation of assembly districts, in violation of the 
constitutional rule preserving the territorial integrity of counties in the appor- 
tionment of the state into assembly districts; and by no possible construction 
of the act can it be brought into harmony with the provisions of the constitu- 
tion. Both the ])rovisions of the constitution and those of the act are too 
plain for misconstruction, and the repugnance of the act to the constitution is 
clear and irreconcilable. The rule in respect to contemporaneous construction 
is inapplicable, for no amount of usage will suffice to dispense with or overcome 
a plain statutory provision, much less a plain provision of the constitution. 
Inasmuch as the several provisions of an act of apportionment are so largely 
dependent upon each other, and as such an act must be regarded as an en- 
tirety, and this one with the objectionable districts would form no just approxi- 
mation or relation toanactof apportionment of the state, there is no alternative 
but to hold that the act in question is void, and that the senate and assembly dis- 
tricts described in it have no legal existence. The respondent has therefore no 
lawful authority for giving a notice of election such as it is alleged he proposes 
to issue, and the court cannot but so declare, be the consequences what they 
may. 

"There is, no doubt, a wide distinction between the exercise of a fair, just 
and necessary discretion within the rules of constitutional apportionment, and 
a gross departure and manifest abandonment and defiance of them ; between 
discretion within certain limits, and for certain ends, and an open, obvious and 
palpable violation of them. It is plain that by disregarding them, namely that 
which require apportionment to be 'according to inhabitants' and those 
which requires assembly districts to 'be in as compact form as practicable' and 
that senate districts be formed of ' convenient contiguous territory' the right of 
representation of local constituencies may be grossly violated, and particularly 
in the form of senate districts, inasmuch as no assembly district can be divided 
for that purpose; but whether this court can declare an act of apportionment 
void in such cases is a question not material to the decision of this case, and 
which will require further discussion and consideration, and need not be now 
determined. 

"The apportionment of the state into senate and assembly districts ac- 
cording to inhabitants is a task, no doubt, of difficulty and delicacy ; and while a 
liberal margin is necessarily allowable for the exercise of a wise and just discre- 
tion, so that the apportionment will be practicably just and proportionate — the 
end designed to be attained by the constitutional limitations on the power of 
the legislature — yet the task is not, so intrinsically difficult but that a fair and 
just result may be readily reached in accord with these limitations, against 
which no well-grounded complaint can be made." 



552 HISTORY "OF WISCONSIN. 

Judge Winslow concurred in the view expressed by Mr. Justice Pinney. 
Chief- Justice Lyon filed an able opinion in which he substantiated the views of 
his associates. 

The Second Gerrymandering Case. 

After the rendition of the judgment of the supreme court in the prior 
case, the legislature, at its special session held in July, 1892, re-apportioned the 
state into senate and assembly districts, but not in accordance with the con- 
stitution. 

An action was therefore commenced in the name of the state against 
Thomas J. Cunningham, secretary of state, in the supreme court, for the purpose 
of perpetually enjoining and restraining the defendant as said secretary and 
his successors in office from publishing a copy of the notices of election of 
members of the newly constituted senate and assembly districts, in a newspa- 
per published at Madison, describing the various legislative districts in such 
notice under the act of July 2, 1892, and also from filing the certificates of 
nomination and nomination papers, and from certifying to the several county 
clerks in the state the names and description of the persons nominated for such 
legislative offices, as specified in such certificates of nomination, and for other 
relief. George G. Green appeared as attorney for the plaintiff" and George 
W. Bird, of counsel, together with John C. Spooner. William F. Vilas ap- 
peared as attorney for the defendant. 

The supreme court, in its decision in this case, made the following findings: 

(i.) The supreme court, under Sec. 3, Art. VII., of the constitution was 
empowered and had the right to issue its writ of injunction independent of the 
volition of the attorney-general ; and his refusal to bring suit or consent 
thereto did not prevent the court from taking jurisdiction upon the relation of 
a private citizen in the name of the state. 

(2.) The validity of the apportionment act is a judicial and not a polit- 
ical question. 

(3.) Under the constitution of Sec. 3, Art. IV., an apportionment must 
be made " according to the number of inhabitants" as shown by the last pre- 
vious federal or state census. 

(4.) The question being as to the validity of an apportionment act, the 
language of the constitution securing equality was plain and not ambiguous. 

(5.) Under Sec. 3, Art. IV., of the constitution, the districts must be 
nearly equal in population as other constitutional requirements will permit. 

(6.) The requirements of said section of the constitution that assembly 
districts shall "be in as compact form a practicable" being of lesser impor- 
tance, may, to some extent, yield in aid of securing a nearer approach to equal- 
ity of representation. 



WISCONSIN'S STATE GOVERNORS. 553 

(7.) " The unnecessary inequalities under the apportionment act of 1892 — 
such, for example, as the formation of six assembly districts, each containing 
one or more counties, with an aggregate population less than four times the 
unit of representation, when such counties might have been grouped into 
four districts; a difterence of over 7,000 in population between assembly dis- 
tricts in a county, when they might have been formed with a difference not 
exceeding 1,000, and with a gain in compactness ; and the formation of one 
senate district from two assembly districts with a population of 30,732, and 
of another senate district from four assembly districts with a population of 
65,952 — are held to render the act invalid." 

Judge Winslow filed a dissenting opinion. 

Closing Events of 1892. 

The state Democratic convention, early in the fall of 1892, nominated the 
following state ticket : For governor, George W. Peck ; lieutenant-governor, 
Charles Jonas; secretary of state, Thomas J. Cunningham; state treasurer, 
John Hunner; attorney-general, James L. O'Connor; state superintendent, 
Oliver E. Wells; railroad commissioner, Thomas Thompson; commissioner of 
insurance, Wilbur M. Root. 

The state Republican convention placed in nomination the following gen- 
tlemen : For governor, John C. Spooner ; lieutenant-governor, John C. Koch; 
secretary of state, Robert W. Jackson; state treasurer, Atley Peterson; attor- 
ney-general, James O'Neill; state superintendent, Willard H. Chandler; 
railroad commissioner, John D. Bullock ; commissioner of insurance, James 
E. Heg. 

The whole Democratic ticket was elected by large pluralities, Governor 
Peck's plurality being 7,707. 

'*Visconsin's representatives in the fifty -third congress were : H. A. 
Cooper, Charles Barwig, Joseph W. Babcock, John L. Mitchell, George H. 
Brickner, Owen A. Wells, George B. Shaw, Lyman E. Barnes, Thomas Lynch 
and Nils P. Haugen. 

Events of 1893. 

The forty-first session of the legislature convened January 11, 1893, and 
adjourned April 21, 1893, after a session of one hundred days. 

The senate was organized with Lieutenant-Governor Charles Jonas in the 
chair as president, Samuel J. Shafer, chief clerk, and John B. Becker, sergeant- 
at-arms. The assembly was organized with Edward Keogh, speaker, George 
W. Forth, chief clerk, and Theodore Knapstein, sergeant-at-arms. 

On January 12, Governor Peck delivered before the legislature his second 
message. In his oi)ening address, among other things, he said : 



554 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

" We have bee'n secure, happy and peaceful in the enjoyment of the prod- 
ucts of our labor. While in other portions of the Union conflicts of the most 
serious character have arisen between employers and their workmen, deference 
to the plain provisions of the constitution and the laws have enabled Wisconsm 
not only to avoid all serious results from such difficulties, but to save expense 
and the too frequent exasperation attending needless use of state troops. 

" The reports of the state officers, boards and institutions of the state, 
required by law to be made, will be presented to you in full. From a careful 
examination of these reports, it appears that the affairs of the state have been 
conducted economically and well. It is not my purpose to present to you 
any extended detailed statement, but to depart somewhat from the usual 
method. I urge upon you the advisability of your careful examination into all 
these reports, assuring you on behalf of those in authority in the several 
departments of their desire to have you scrutinize with care the present manner 
of conducting the business of the state. They invite criticism and suggestion 
from you, looking to a more economical and satisfactory administration. 

' ' I feel it a privilege to be able to extend to the people of Wisconsin con- 
gratulations that the highest court in the state has affirmed the decision of the 
circuit court against former state treasurers who have misappropriated the 
interest on state funds to private uses. The aggregate of the judgments will 
be a large sum of money, but the recovery of the money is a trifling matter 
compared with the principle established, which is a great victory for the doc- 
trine that public office is a trust that should be honestly administered." 

State Finances. 

In speaking of the finances of the state since the commencement of the 
governor's first administration, he said : 

" On January 5, 1891, there was a balance on hand in the general fund 
of $23,599.32, with warrants already drawn aggregating $36,096.87 ; actually 
showing $12,497.55 more money spent than there was in the general fund. 
Against this showing there is a surplus in the general fund to-day. 

" On January i, 1893, $312,939.79 was the magnificent sum to the 
credit of the general fund of the state, with no unpaid warrants outstanding. 
Of this surplus but $98,466.10 came from the direct war tax refunded to the 
state in 1891, by the United States government. There is, therefore, an actual 
balance to the credit of careful and wise economy of $226,971.24. 

" In addition to this, by an improvement in methods, the interest on state 
funds deposited in banks has, during the past two years, added $53,410.11 to 
the income of the state, without cost or the loss of a dollar, as a result of such 
method of temporary loans. 



WISCONSIN'S STATE GOVERNORS. 555 

" Six of the counties in the state now pay the amount of state taxes 
charged to them on or before the second Monday in July, while all the other 
counties pay on or before the first Monday in February. This tends to make 
confusion, and causes much annoyance, and I would recommend that the 
law be so amended that all such taxes shall be payable at the same time." 

The message also treated of the beneficial results of the Australian ballot 
system. The salary of the state superintendent he recommended to be in- 
creased in proportion to the amount of work performed by that official. The 
loaning of the trust funds, the protection of pubHc lands, the public health, the 
co-employe law, the contingent fund, educational affairs, the national guard, 
war records and public roads, received due consideration in this terse message. 

The governor, in concluding his message, said: 

" In concluding this brief and somewhat circumscribed review of state 
affairs, I have endeavored to confine myself to subjects that, to me, seem to 
press most prominently for legislative attention. There is still one topic to be 
considered that overshadows all others in the minds of the tax-payers, that is, 
adherence to the strictest economy in all public expenditures, however small, 
consistent with efficient service and wise conduct of state affairs. The show- 
ing made by the economies of the past two years, though so large that it will, 
no doubt, prove a surprise to many people, is by no means com[)lete. There 
are opportunities still for the legislature to dis[)ense with needless officials and 
to still more restrict expenses in certain branches of state government, with the 
assurance that the result will follow, as it has in the past, that money will be 
saved and the service improved at the same time. No detail of this subject is 
so small as to be unworthy of your most serious attention. Extravagance in 
the conduct of public business results in needless burdens upon the people, and, 
what is worse, breeds official neglect and corruption. 

" Knowing that one of the most valuable aids to the last legislature in the 
consideration of appropriations was its joint committee on retrenchment and 
reform, I recommend that this legislature appoint such a committee, to whom 
shall be referred all bills for the expenditure of money. 

" Believing that the legislature in its wisdom will be impressed with the 
high and patriotic importance of discouraging all tendencies to loose and lavish 
public expenditures as a first essential of good government, I commend to you 
these suggestions regarding the public business of the state." 

The State Treasury Cases. 

Agreeable to the promises made by the Democracy during the campaign 
of 1890, and the subsequent instructions given to the attorney-general, actions 
were commenced against Edward C. McFetridge and Henry B. Harshaw and 



556 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

their sureties. These cases were tried before Judge A. W. Newman, in the 
circuit court of Dane county. 

The first action of this nature was the State 7'^-. Edward C. McFetridge, 
which action was brought upon the official bond of the defendant as state treas- 
urer, during the term commencing the first Monday in January, 1885, and 
ending on the first Monday in January, 1887, to which office he was elected 
m November, 1884. This action was also brought against all of the surviving 
sureties upon such bond, eleven in number. Three of the sureties had died 
previous to the commencement of the action. The bond was in the sum of 
$500,000, the material conditions of which are as follows: 

" Now, therefore, if the said Edward C. McFetridge shall faithfully dis- 
charge the duties of the said office of state treasurer, and also his duties as a 
member of the board of commissioners of the public lands, and in the invest- 
ment of the funds arising therefrom, and if all persons appointed or employed 
by him in his said office shall faithfully perform their duties and trusts therein, 
and if the said Edward C. McFetridge shall deliver over to his successor in 
office, or to any other person authorized by law to receive the same, all 
moneys, books, records, papers, and other articles and effects belonging to his 
said office, then this obHgation to be void, otherwise to be and remain in full 
force and eftect; and the said bond and obligation hereby entered into is 
hereby deemed to extend to the faithful execution of the duties of the said 
office of treasurer until his successor shall be elected and duly qualified." 

The complaint alleged that during the term of office of Edward C. 
McFetridge, he, the principal in said bond, loaned to or deposited with certain 
banks and banking firms, large sums of public funds, which came into his 
hands as such treasurer, and received from such banks, as consideration for such 
loans or deposits and as interest thereon, large sums of money; that the fail- 
ure of said treasurer to account for or pay over such interest money to the per- 
sons entitled thereto, or to his successor in office, was the alleged breach of 
the condition of the bond. 

The principal defendant, Edward C. McFetridge, it was charged, as a 
further breach of the bond, failed to perform his duties as one of the commis- 
sioners of the public lands in the investment of trust funds in the treasury. 

The defendants Edward C. McFetridge and James A. McFetridge an- 
swered separately. The other defendants answered jointly. Each answer 
substantially admitted that the treasurer deposited the pubhc funds in various 
banks, and that the treasurer received some pecuniary gain, compensation or 
percentage from some of said banks, in consideration of the benefits accruing 
to them from such deposits, and that such deposits were authorized by law. 

The trial of the action before Judge Newman, in the circuit court of Dane 
county, resulted in the findings of fact to the eftect that during the official term 



WISCONSIN'S STATE GOVERNORS. 557 

■of the defendant Edward C. McFetridge, the principal m the bond in suit, 
*' loaned to and placed and kept on deposit with the various banks, banking 
associations and firms, from time to time, a large portion of the funds and pub- 
lic money of the state, which came to his hands, as state treasurer, with the 
agreement or understanding that such banks ' should pay as a compensation for 
such loans or deposits a percentage or interest upon the average amount of 
such loans or deposits, at certain rates for certain fixed periods, at certain definite 
times;' that said Edward C. McFetridge, during his said term, received of such 
banks, associations and firms, $44,217.83 as interest upon the funds and public 
money in his hands belonging to the state, thus deposited, which sum he failed 
to account for as public money of the state or to pay the same over to his suc- 
cessor in office. 

" As conclusion of law the court found that the money thus received by 
the treasurer as interest on the public funds thus loaned or deposited became 
accessory to and a part of those funds; that such funds, thus increased by the 
interest paid thereon, belonged to the state, and not to the treasurer ; and that 
Treasurer McFetridge having failed to charge the same to himself in his ac- 
count with the state, or to pay the same over to his successor in office or other 
person lawfully entitled thereto, is, and the sureties in his official bond are, 
liable in this action for the amount thus paid the treasurer as interest and unac- 
counted for, together with interest thereon from the first Monday in Janu- 
ary, 1887, at which date he surrendered his office to his successor." 

The following opinion in this case, and in the case of State vs. Harshaw, 
which was tried with it, was filed by Judge A. W. Newman, of the Sixth judi- 
cial circuit, before whom those cases were tried : 

" There are two actions against the former state treasurers and their sure- 
ties to recover money which the treasurers received from certain banks, for the 
use of public money deposited with them, and which they have failed to deliver 
to their successors in office. The two cases depend mainly on similar facts, 
and the questions of law are very much the same, so they were tried, and are 
decided together for convenience. 

" Mr. McFetridge was treasurer for five years, from 1882 to 1887 ; Mr. 
Harshaw from 1887 to 1891, four years. During these terms of office, the law 
fixed the salary of the office at $5,000 per year, and at the same time declared 
that that sum 'shall be in full for all services rendered by him in his official capaci- 
ty.' This sum is equal to the largest salary paid to any officer in the state. It 
is equal to the salary paid to the governor and to the justices of the supreme 
court. The duties of the office of the state treasurer require from him little be- 
sides good bookkeeping and suitable care to keep the public money safely. 
He is not in any important sense the state financier. The general manage- 
ment of the finances of the state is confided to three commissioners, of whom 



558 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

the treasurer is one. These defendants, during their respective terms, kept 
large sums of the pubhc money deposited in banks, and received from the 
banks, for the use of it, large sums of money, several times larger than the 
salary allowed to the office by law. This interest money they did not account 
for to the state nor deliver to their successors in office, but kept as their own. 
The evidence tends to show that earlier treasurers had earlier done the same, 
but with much less of system and smaller profit. It is to recover these interest 
moneys that these actions are brought. 

" It may be assumed, for the purpose of the decision, that these interest 
moneys belong to whatever party shall be found to have been the owner of the 
fund which earned them. This is the general rule of law, and no circumstances 
seem to make this case exceptional. Indeed, it is understood that there was 
no dissent from this proposition on the argument. Interest upon a fund is 
accessory to the fund and becomes a part of it. The fund, as so increased by 
interest, belongs to the owner of the original fund. 

" In this action it is claimed for the state that the principal fund, which 
earned this interest, was the money of the state. On the ground that the in- 
terest was an accretion to that fund, the state claims to recover it in this action. 
For the defendants it is denied that the principal fund was the money of the 
state; but, on the contrary, it is claimed that it was the treasurer's own money, 
and for that reason he has the right to retain the interest which it earned. So 
the issue is, practically, whose money was it that earned the interest ? The 
decision will be a necessary consequence from the answer to this question. 

" It seems to be fair to assume that money which is received into the state 
treasury is the state's money, until in some way it is satisfactorily shown or 
demonstrated that it is not the state's money. The argument by which this is 
said to be demonstrated is this : The treasurer gives a bond, with sureties, for the 
faithful discharge of the duties of his office. Upon this bond he and his sureties 
are liable to the state in the amount of the penalty of his bond, to account for 
and pay over all the moneys which shall come to his hands by virtue of his 
office, absolutely and in every event. That in no event whatever can he be 
excused from such payment. Hence, it is inferred that he at once, upon 
the execution of his official bond, becomes an absolute debtor to the state in 
the amount of the penalty of his bond. From the fact that he is so an absolute 
debtor, it is again inferred that moneys which are received into the state treas- 
ury become the treasurer's own money, and that his bond stands to the state in 
place of the money. 

' ' The whole argument rests upon the premises that the treasurer is liable 
in every event. If in any circumstances of loss he is not liable, the argument 
fails. No case has been found where it has been held that the treasurer is 
liable when the money has been lost without his fault, by act of God or of the 



WISCONSIN'S STATE GOVERNORS. 559 

public enemy. The only case where the question was involved is U. S. vs. 
Thomas, 15 Wall,, 337. In that case it is held that for such a loss he is not 
liable. In that event he is excused for losing the public money. It would be 
no excuse for not paying over that he had lost his own money by whatever 
means. This makes the responsibility of the custodian of public funds the 
same as the common-law responsibility of the common carrier. He also is ex- 
cused for loss by the act of God or of the public enemy. It has not been 
claimed that the common carrier, by reason of his strict responsibility, becomes 
the owner of the goods he carries. 

" This is an open question in this state. It is to be decided according to 
what shall appear to be the better reason. It does not seem that public policy 
shall require a state treasurer who keeps the public funds faithfully in the place 
designated by law, shall be held liable for public money lost without his fault, 
by the act of God or the public enemy ; for example, by an earthquake which 
should engulf the capitol, or by an invading army which should capture it. 
But there are many decided cases in which the judges assume and say that the 
treasurer is an absolute debtor, and, as a corroUary, that the money is his own. 
This conclusion does not seem to be a necessary inference from the premises, 
and is denied in some of the cases where the absolute liability is assumed, as in 
Hennepin Co. vs. Jones, 18 Minn., 199; but these cases are mostly, if not all, in- 
volving the liabihty of town, county, or local treasurers, or collectors of pubhc 
money, and for that reason are not strictly in point in this case, for ordinarily 
the statutes relating to the management and preservation of the public funds by 
the state treasurers and the local treasurers are different. Usually, in the case 
of the local treasurers, nothing is designated with respect to the mode or place 
of keeping the funds, so that if he accounts fairly, and meets all obligations as 
presented, there is usually no occasion or disposition to inquire further as to 
the disposition or management of the funds ; while, in the case of the state 
treasurers, the statutes are more explicit. It is contemplated that all public 
funds of the state shall remain specifically in the vaults of the treasury, so that 
they can be counted quarter-yearly. 

" So the state treasurer does not stand on the same footing as the local 
treasurer. In the case of the local treasurer, inasmuch as the law does not 
direct the mode and place of keeping the funds, the treasurer, it is assumed, 
may keep them where and very much as he pleases. It is very much the same 
as if the funds were his own. But, in the case of the state trsasurer, the 
statutes provide industriously for the safe-keeping of the funds in a designated 
place, where they are to some extent under the supervision of other officers 
than himself. 

"The recent case of Comm. 7'S. Godshaw, 17 S. W. Rep., 737, de- 
cided by the court of appeals of Kentucky, goes upon this distinction. This 



560 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

case holds that a local collector, called ' the trustee of the jury fund,' whose 
duty it was to collect fines and forfeitures and other sources of revenue, to be 
applied to the payment of the jurors, was the owner of the money he collected, 
upon the ground that no law directed a place for depositing or mode of keeping 
it. It was held that the interest paid to him by a bank where he deposited the 
funds could not be recovered from him by the state ; but the court say that 
this would not be so if the law prescribed a mode of keepmg or a place of de- 
positing it. The court say : ' Nothing is prescribed as to the mode of keeping 
it or the place of depositing it.' Money paid into the treasury becomes the 
money of the state because it is required to be paid into the treasury as such ; 
and, the law requiring the money to be paid into certain banks, when the 
treasurer does this, and the money is lost, he is not accountable unless by his 
neglect.' The court cites Perley vs. Muskegon Co., 32 Mich., 132, as an 
authority to the same effect. So, if it shall be found, on an examination of 
the statutes, that by law the state treasurer is required to keep the state's 
moneys in the vaults which the state has provided for that purpose at the capi- 
tol, where it can be counted periodically, and has forbidden him to lend it, 
then these cases are authority that the money is not the treasurer's own money, 
but that it is the state's own money ; and that the treasurer's relation to it is 
strictly that of a bailee; and that if he obeys the laws relating to its custody, 
and It becomes lost without his fault, he is not liable. 

" The condition of the treasurer's bond is for ' the faithful discharge of the 
duties of his office.' The general duties of his office are defined by Section 152 
of the Revised Statutes : ' The treasurer shall keep his office at the capitol, 
shall receive and have charge of all moneys paid into the state treasury, and 
shall pay out the same as directed by law.' The language is plain and un- 
ambiguous. It does not admit of misinterpretation. Ogden 7'^. Glidden, 9 
Wis., 47. It is to be understood according to the common and approved usage 
of the language. Sec. 4971, R. S. 'He shall have charge of the moneys' 
seems equivalent to saying, ' He shall have custody of the moneys.' The 
governor and attorney-general are required, at least once in each quarter year, 
to examine and see that all the money appearing by the books of the secretary 
and state treasurer as belonging to the several funds is in the vaults of the 
treasury. If it is not found to be there it must be put there within ten days, 
or the attorney-general must bring an action to recover it. Sec. 159. This 
also is plain and unambiguous. It is objected that the word ' treasury ' may 
be ambiguous; that it does not always mean the place where the money is kept, 
but that it sometimes signifies merely the custody of the officer. But the phrase 
' vaults of the treasury ' is not obnoxious to that objection. It is required that 
they examine and see that ' all the money ' which ought to be there is there in 
the vaults of the treasury. Sometimes the term ' money ' is ambiguous. In 



WISCONSIN'S STATE GOVERNORS. 561 

some connections it is held to include some things which strictly are not 
money; but as used in this statute, it will hardly be claimed that its meaning is 
doubtful. It will not be held that in this statute the word ' money ' includes 
promissory notes, checks, or certificates of deposit, or perhaps anything which 
is not understood to be money. These are only evidences of debt. It makes 
no difference that they are issued by a bank. 

" In law there can be no difference between a loan to a bank and a loan 
to anyone else. There is no law which presumes one borrower without secu- 
rity is safer than another. Cedar Co. 7's. Jenal, 14 Neb., 254; Wayne Co. 7'^. 
Bressler, 32 Neb., 818; Perley 7'^. Muskegon Co., 32 Mich., 132, The law 
makes the depositing of public moneys by any of the officers named m Sec. 
4418, which includes the state treasurer, ' for his own gain, profit or advantage, 
without special authority,' prima facie evidence that such officers have embez- 
zled the money. Sec. 4419. This is a clear intimation, at least, that it was 
not intended that the state treasurer should make profit for himself by the use 
of public money. Sec. 4419 also provides that ' every public officer shall 
promptly pay over, as required by law, the same moneys received and held by 
him by virtue of his office, and the whole thereof.' It is objected that this 
statute is ambiguous; that the phrase, ' the same moneys,' may, and probably 
does, mean ' the same amount of moneys.' But it will be seen that all that 
is significant in the idea that it is the same amount of moneys which is to be 
paid remains in the statute if the word '■ same ' is entirely omitted from it. It 
will still direct that he ' shall pay over the same moneys received and held by 
virtue of his office, and the whole thereof.' To say that he shall pay over all — 
the whole amount of — moneys received and held by him is very much the 
same as to say that he shall pay over the same amount of moneys received by 
him. The vice of the proposed niterpretation is that it gives no force to the 
word 'same.' 

" A statute ought, upon the whole, to be so constructed that, if possible, 
no clause, sentence or word shall be superfluous, insignificant or void. Every 
clause and word of a statute shall be presumed to have been intended to have 
some force and effect. Harrington 7'^. Smith, 28 Wis., 43, 67. This provi- 
sion is part of a penal statute, and, perhaps, on the familiar rule, is to be 
strictly construed. Yet the intention of the legislature must govern in the 
construction of penal as well as other statutes, and they are not to be con- 
strued so strictly as to defeat the obvious intention of the legislature. U. S. 
vs. Lacher, 134 U. S., 624. It seems to be written in these statutes, with 
sufficient clearness to be understood by the common mind, that the state treas- 
urer is to receive all the money paid into the state treasury, and to take care of 
it; that he is to keep it specifically ' in the vaults of the treasury ' provided by 
the state in connection with his office in the capitol ; that the money is to be 



562 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

counted in the vaults of the treasury by the governor and attorney-general 
quarter- yearly; that he is to pay out the same money received by him, but 
only upon the warrant of the secretary of state. His whole dealing with it is 
official, specific, and not at all as though he were the owner. It is all incon- 
sistent with the idea that the legislature contemplated that, as against the state, 
it was the state treasurer's money. In contemplation of law, the treasurer is 
simply the custodian of the state's money. It is strictly a bailment. Comm. 
vs. Godshaw, 17 S. W. Rep., 737; Perley vs. Muskegon Co., 32 Mich., 132; 
U. S. vs. Thomas, 15 Wall., 337. No decision to the contrary is known where 
there were statutes directing the mode of keeping the funds. 

"But it is objected that the state cannot recover this interest because it must 
trace its title to it, if at all, through a series of unlawful transactions. If it is 
established that the principal fund which earned the interest was the property 
of the state, this objection does not seem to be insuperable. The depositing of 
the money in banks by the treasurer for his own gain was forbidden and unlaw- 
ful. On its civil side at least the unlawful act was a tort — a conversion of the 
state's money. The conversion did not displace the state's title. The fund 
was still the state's money. The accessory followed its principal; the accretion 
was the state's money. United States j's. Mosby, 133 U. S., 276-286. But 
the treasurer can trace title to the interest only through his own wrongful act. 
This he cannot be allowed to do. That would be a violation of that most an- 
cient and widely applied maxim of the law, 'No man shall profit by his own 
wrong.' The defendant has not even plausible claim of legal title to this in- 
terest. It would, indeed, be a startling legal paradox if the treasurer, being 
forbidden by law to deposit the public funds for his own gain, could yet do the 
very thing forbidden, and get away with his gains according to law. This in- 
terest was also received into the state treasury. It was paid to the treasurer 
without restriction. There was no way for the banks to pay the money into 
the treasury but to put it into the hands of the treasurer. Any subtle distinc- 
tion between paying to the treasurer and paying into the treasury is specious 
and illusive. It is not certain that any of this money came into the vaults of 
the treasury. It is paid to the treasurer. It is then, in legal contemplation, 
in the treasury. People vs. McKinney, 10 Mich., 54. It is then the treas- 
urer's duty to put it into the vaults. Whether he do so does not affect the owner- 
ship of the money. It is the treasurer's duty to deliver to his successor in office 
all moneys, books, records, papers, furniture and other effects belonging to or 
preserved in his office. Section 157, Subdivision 6. These interest moneys 
belong to his office. He has not faithfully discharged the duties of his office 
until he has delivered them to his successor in office. 

"It is not considered that a long-continued practice of state treasurers to 
deposit public money in banks for their own gain is such a practical construe- 



WISCONSIN'S STATE GOVERNORS. 563 

tion of the statute by officers charged with the execution of the law as to be of 
any controlling influence. It is only in case of real doubt that construction is 
allowable. Whether the law contemplated that the treasurer might deposit 
public moneys in banks for his own gain is not perceived to have been doubtful 
since Chapter 340, Laws of 1876, came in force, however it may have been 
before. Nor is it considered that the delay of the state to claim this money 
acts in any way as a bar to its right or a cloud upon its good faith. The law is 
the standard of the treasurer's duty, and the measure of his right. It all the 
while warned him that this was not his money. 

"Judgment should be for the state for the amount of moneys detained by 
the treasurers, with interest from the time when it should have been paid to 
their successors." 

Judgment was accordingly entered for the state against all the defendants 
for $44,217.83, and interest thereon from the first Monday in January, 1887, 
being $15,906.14, making a total of $60,123.97, and for costs. 

The defendants, and each of them, joined in an appeal to the supreme 
court frjm the judgment. 

" Joshua Stark, attorney, and David S. Ordway, of counsel for the appel- 
lants, contended, i7iter alia, that the finding of the trial court, that the defend- 
ant McFetridge loaned public moneys to banks was not warranted. The de- 
posits were not loans. There is a well recognized distinction between a general 
deposit in the bank subject to check and a loan. Lewin Trusts, 295 ; Estate 
of Law, 14 L. R. A., 103, and cases cited in opinion and note; People ex rel. 
Nash vs. Faulkner, 107 N. Y., 489; Barney 7'^-. Saunders, 16 How., 545-6; 
Payne vs. Gardner, 29 N. Y., 167. The payments of money to defendant 
McFetridge, by reason or on account of such deposits, were gratuitous and 
voluntary, and were made to him individually and for his own personal use, 
and not to him officially for the use of the state. At no time could an action 
have been maintained by him for the recovery of interest, so-called, or other 
compensation from the banks: (i) For want of a contract in that behalf; 
and, (2) because any contract for the payment of interest to him individually, 
or to him as state treasurer, would have been illegal, contrary to public policy, 
and therefore void. Ring vs. Devlin, 68 Wis., 384-89. No action could have 
been maintained by the state against the banks for the recovery of interest upon 
such deposits: (i) For want of any agreement in that behalf between the 
banks and the state ; (2) because any such agreement, if it had been made by 
the treasurer on behalf of the state, would have been a violation of law and 
therefore void, and the state, in order to maintain an action upon it, must 
ratify it, and this could only be done by legislative act. State vs. Keim, 8 
Neb., Gi; State vs. Delafield, 8 Paige, 527-542 ; State vs. Butdes, 3 Ohio St., 
309. It is equally clear that this action against the treasurer to recover moneys 



564 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

obtained as the fruit of a criminal violation of law cannot be maintained 
without ratification of this unlawful act. The only remedy of the state, if any, 
against the banks without such ratification would be, not upon contract, but 
by bill in equity to reach the funds converted by deposit, and damages for their 
conversion. First Nat. Bank vs. Gandy, 11 Neb., 431; Union Stock Yards 
Bank vs. Gillespie, 137 U. S., 411 ; Perley vs. Muskegon Co., 32 Mich., 132. 
Such right of action ceased when the entire amount of the funds deposited was 
duly applied by the treasurer to the public use, or turned over to his successor 
in office. State vs. Mills, 55 Wis., 229; State vs. Baetz, 44 u/., 624. 

" The ' moneys belonging to the treasurer's office,' referred to in the bond, 
are those moneys only which the treasurer was by statute required to receive 
and have in charge and pay out according to law. They did not include the 
moneys voluntarily paid by the banks to the treasurer individually. The 
liability of a surety is restricted to the express terms and the necessary import 
of his undertaking. 

" David S. Ordway, as attorney for the sureties, also contended, ////^r 
a/ia, that there was no law or statute, at the date of the bond upon which this 
suit is brought, requiring, or even by implication authorizing, the loan or de- 
posit by the treasurer of public funds, or the receipt by him of interest or 
gratuity for the use of such moneys. Without such statute it was not, and 
could not be, an official duty resting upon the treasurer to accumulate or pay 
into the treasury either interest or compensation for such use of the public 
funds. It follows that the sureties cannot be held liable in this action, because 
it is only the official acts of the treasurer which the sureties have by their con- 
tract become responsible for." 

The attorney-general and R. M. Bashford appeared for the respondent, 
together with William F. Vilas, of counsel. 

Chief-Justice Lyon, in rendering his opinion in this most noted case, after 
making a general statement of its status, among other things, said: " It is 
assumed for the purposes of the case that, if the legal title to the pubHc funds 
which lawfully came to the hands of Treasurer McFetridge was vested in him, 
there can be no recovery by the state, either against him or the sureties in his 
official bond, for any profit he may have made by the use of such funds. The 
question is whether the state is the owner of the public funds in the hands of 
its treasurer, or whether the legal title thereto is in the treasurer, must be deter- 
mined by the statutes prescribing the rights, duties and liabilities of the 
treasurer. These statutes will be referred to and considered as briefly as 
possible. 

"Sec. 152, R. S., is as follows: 'The treasurer shall keep his office at 
the capitol, shall receive and have charge of all money paid into the state 
treasury, and shall pay out the same as directed by law.' Sec. 153 requires 



WISCONSIN'S STATE GOVERNORS. 565 

him to give a bond, with sureties, conditioned (among other things) for the 
faithful discharge of the duties of his office, and that he shall deliver to his 
successor in office, or other person authorized to receive the same, all moneys, 
property, etc., 'belonging to his said office.' Sec. 154 requires the governor to 
exact an additicmal bond of the treasurer in several contingencies, one of which 
is ' whenever the funds in the treasury shall exceed the amount of the treasurer's 
bond.' Sec. 157, Subd. i, makes it the duty of the treasurer to keep a cash 
book, and to enter therein ' a detailed account of all money received by him 
and disbursed,' which book he is required to deposit weekly with the secretary 
of state. Subd. 2 makes it the duty of the treasurer * to pay out of the state 
treasury ' on demand, the amounts specified in proper warrants drawn by the 
secretary of state, and provides that ' he shall pay no money out of the treas- 
sury ' except in pursuance of some law authorizing him to do so. Subd. 7 
requires him to report quarter-yearly to the governor ' the total amount of the 
funds in the treasury, specifying in what kinds of currency they consist, and 
the amount of each kind,' etc. Subd. 8 requires him also to report to the 
governor, at stated times, ' a full and detailed statement of all moneys received 
into and paid out of the treasury ' during the times specified in the statute. 
Sec. 159 is as follows: ' The governor and attorney-general shall, at least once 
in each quarter year, and at such other times as the governor may elect, exam- 
ine and see that all the money appearing by the books of the secretary of state 
and state treasurer as belonging to the several funds is in the vaults of the 
treasury, and in case of a deficiency shall require the treasurer to make up such 
deficiency immediately ; and if such treasurer shall refuse or neglect for ten 
days thereafter to have the full sum belonging to said funds in the treasury the 
attorney-general shall institute proceedings to recover the same.' Sec. 4419, 
the provisions of which doubtless extend to and include the state treasurer, 
makes \\. prima facie evidence of the embezzlement thereof if the treasurer loans 
or deposits the public funds in his hands ' for his own gain, profit or advantage, 
without special authority.' This section also contains the following provision : 
' Every public officer shall promptly pay over, as required by law, the same 
moneys received and held by him by virtue of his office, and the whole 
thereof. ' 

" The above statutes were all in force when, and for a long time before, 
the bond in suit was executed. From beginning to end they were entirely 
inconsistent with the theory that the legislature intended by the enactment of 
any of them to vest the state treasurer with the legal ownership of the public 
moneys which come to his hands, thus making him merely the debtor of the 
state in respect thereto. If such were his relation to the state, it would be 
difficult to show that such funds were not subject to be seized for his debts, or, 
in case of the death of the treasurer in office, that the same would not go to 



566 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

his administrator as part and parcel of his estate, the state being, perhaps, a 
preferred creditor. It is inconceivable that any legislature could intend such 
results, and there is nothing in any statute that forces the conclusion that they 
did so. A close analysis of the above statutes, or any extended discussion of 
them, is quite unnecessary, for a perusal of them is sufficient to carry convic- 
tion to the mind that the legislature never intended to divest the state of its 
title to the public funds in the hands of its treasurer, and the consequent con- 
trol over those funds which results from ownership thereof. We must there- 
fore negative the first proposition above stated, and hold that the state was the 
owner of the public funds which came to the hands of Treasurer McFetridge. 
Some of the above statutes are hereinafter referred to on another branch of the 
case, and a construction given them; but such construction does not diminish 
their persuasive force as showing that the state is the owner of such funds. 

* ' Having determined that the fund thus deposited in banks by Treasurer 
McFetridge belonged to the state, we assume the accuracy of the rule held by 
the cases in the second class above mentioned, and under the rule of the cases 
in the fourth class, which we approve, we hold Treasurer McFetridge and his 
sureties liable in this action for the interest in question. 

" Upon due consideration our conclusions upon the whole case are (and 
the court so holds) that the funds which Treasurer McFetridge deposited with 
banks were the property of the state ; that in making such deposits as treasurer 
and stipulating for and receiving interest thereon, or receiving interest thereon 
without such stipulation, he did not violate any law of the state ; that such 
interest so paid to him, being an accretion or increment to the fund, increasing 
it by the amount of interest thus paid thereon, belongs to the state; that 
Treasurer McFetridge received such interest by virtue of his office of state 
treasurer, and the same belonged to his said office ; that his failure to account 
therefor to the state, or to deliver the same to his successor in office, as re- 
quired by law, is a breach of the conditions of his official bond, and that this 
action can be maintained on such bond, against him and his sureties therein, 
to recover the interest thus received by him and unaccounted for. 

" In determining this case the court has adopted many of the views of 
the learned circuit judge, but withholds its approval of others. Inasmuch as 
we arrive at the same conclusion reached by him, although by different jjroc- 
esses of reasoning, it is unnecessary further to discuss the propositions in his 
very able opinion which we are not prepared to adopt." 

The Second Treasury Case. 

The next treasury case argued in the supreme court was the State vs. Har- 
shaw, appellant, and State, respondent vs. Sawyer ^Z <?/., appellants. In this 
case Charles W. Felker and J. V. Quarles appeared for the appellants, and the 



WISCONSIN'S STATE GOVERNORS. 567 

attorney-general and R. M. Bashford, with William F. Vilas of counsel, ap- 
peared for the state. The opinion of Chief-Justice Lyon, which was filed 
January 10, 1893, is as follows : 

"There are two appeals in this action — one by the defendant, Henry B, 
Harshaw, and the other by all the remaining defendants. Such appeals are 
from the judgment of the circuit court, in favor of the state and against all the 
defendants. 

" The defendant Harshaw was treasurer for the term commencing on the 
first Monday in January, 189 1. The defendants. Sawyer, Hay, McMillen, 
Porter and Hooper, together with Charles B. Clark, now deceased, are the 
sureties in his official bond as such treasurer. The action is to recover interest 
paid by banks on deposits therein of the public funds made by Treasurer Har- 
shaw, in his name of office. It is like the case of State vs. McFetridge, an^e, 
p. 473, except that, instead of receiving the interest on such deposits himself, 
Treasurer Harshaw and his sureties, or some of them, secured the services of 
the defendant, Schreiber, to collect and receive it. Schreiber received over 
$62,000 of such interest, and deposited the same in the defendant. The National 
Bank of Oshkosh, of which he was cashier, in the name of the defendant S. 
M. Hay, trustee. Hay is a surety in such bond, and the president of the de- 
fendant bank. The money still remains there on deposit. The action is in 
equity, for an accounting of such interest, and to reach such deposit in the de- 
fendant bank. 

" The court held the defendant Harshaw and his sureties liable for the 
amount of such interest, with interest thereon from the close of his official term, 
with costs. It also held defendant Schreiber and the bank liable for the amount 
thus deposited, but not for interest thereon or costs. Judgment was entered 
for the state, accordingly, which provided that, when the amount of such de- 
posit should be paid, the same should be applied upon the judgment against 
Treasurer Harshaw and his sureties. 

" In respect to the liability of the defendants, Harshaw and his sureties, the 
case is ruled by the McFetridge case. There can be no doubt that the state 
is entitled to recover the interest realized on its funds, and deposited in the de- 
fendant bank by Schreiber 

" By the Court. — The judgment of the circuit court is affirmed on both 
appeals." 

Justice Pinney did not sit in either of the treasury cases, as he had acted 
as counsel for McFetridge e/ a/., in the original action tried before Judge 
Newman. 



568 



HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 



No. 


Name. 


Judgment For 


Amount Paid. 


I 


McFetridge, 


$7S'"9-49 


$72,419.64 


2 


McFetridge, 


43>292.3i 


15,000.00 


3 


McFetridge, 


60,412.66 


65,267.42 


I 


Harshaw, 


64,437-79 


67,616.48 


2 


Harshaw, 


68,078.99 


73,082.41 


I 


Guenther, 


60,211.55 


50,000.00 


2 


Guenther, 


71,015.72 


30,000.00 



Table of Judgments Entered vs. St.\te Treasurers and Payments Thereon. 

Date of Judgment. 
April 27, 1893. 
April 27, 1893. 
February 23, 1892. 
January 24, 1893. 
February 23, 1892. 
June 28, 1893. 
June 28, 1893. 

$442,568.42 $373,385-95 
The actions brought against Richard Guenther, one of the ex- treasurers, 
was not appealed to the supreme court. The balance of the judgments will be 
paid during the first half of the year of 1894. 

The Great Financial Depression. 

It is the history of every civilized country, that at least once in every 
twenty years a financial crisis or a pronounced monetary stringency exists, 
arising usually from a multiplicity of causes. In the year 1873, the great finan- 
cial depression, which swept away so many large business houses and manu- 
facturing concerns throughout the United States and Canada, extended over a 
period of two years. 

On April i, 1893, the people throughout the whole country, were pros- 
perous and happy ; not a cloud was visible in the horizon to warn the people 
of the terrible financial calamity which was so soon to befall them. During 
the latter part of April, numerous small depositors drew their savings from 
various banks, and, later on, larger depositors did the same, until, throughout 
the union, there was a quiet run upon all of the banks, and, in some instances, 
panics were created, which caused a general run upon some designated bank, 
eventually causing its suspension. 

The beautiful and thriving city of Milwaukee was one of the first cities in 
the west to suffer irreparable loss from bank failures. On May 13, 1893, 
the depositors made a general run upon the Plankinton bank, such as never 
before was known in the history of that city. Thousands of de[)ositors be- 
sieged the bank for more than two days. The Plankinton block, on Grand 
avenue, at times resembled a hive of bees during swarming season. The bank 
officials took precautionary measures, and reinforced the bank's reserves with 
about $80,000 in gold, which they brought from Chicago, thus tiding over the 
great run, and avoiding immediate suspension. Each depositor who presented 
checks, drafts or certificates, were immediately paid. Notwithstanding the 
tiding over of its temporary embarrassment, the great banking house soon failed, 
on account of its previous bad management. 



WISCONSIN'S STATE GOVERNORS. 569 

Following closely upon this great and disastrous failure, came the suspen- 
sion of the Commercial bank, the Milwaukee Fire and Marine Insurance bank, 
familiarly known as the "Mitchell bank," the South Side Savings bank, and 
the Milwaukee National bank. 

The failure of these banks was precipitated by the withdrawal of deposits, 
yet the direct and fundamental cause of each failure, or suspension, was the ex- 
tremely bad management of the respective banking concerns, and in some in-^ 
stances, by the fraudulent and criminal management of the bank's finances by 
its officials. 

From April 20th, to October ist, more than one hundred and fifty na- 
tional banks throughout the United States had, besides numerous private con- 
cerns, suspended, thus entailing upon the depositors the loss of millions of 
dollars, and almost paralyzing the entire financial and commercial interests of a 
great nation. 

The general impeding of so large a number of our manufactories and other 
industries, caused by this great financial stringency, occasioned, during the 
early winter of 1893, much distress, especially among those who depended up- 
on their daily labor to support themselves and families. So great was the suf- 
fering for the necessities of life in the iron regions of northern Wisconsin that 
Governor Peck, in November, issued a proclamation, calling upon the gener- 
osity of the people throughout the state to contribute to the needy and desti- 
tute. 

The governor and his staff visited that portion of the state, where so many 
miners were in a semi-starving condition, investigated and ascertained the true 
condition of aftairs, and appointed relief committees for the distribution of the 
numerous carloads of clothing and provisions promptly sent by the people of 
the state, who liberally responded to the governor's call for aid. The railroad 
companies were not behindhand in generosity, as they carried carloads of 
g09ds, provnsions, etc., free of charge. 




Frontenac on Lake Pepin, Mississippi River. 



Chapter LXIII. 
HISTORY OF WISCONSIN RAILROADS. 

The Chicago axd North-Western Railway Company. 

Prior to the Black Hawk war, the territory now constituting the state of 
Wisconsin was sparsely settled, there being only a few mining camps in the 
southwestern part, and a few military posts, the former the outgrowth of settle- 
ments made by the early Jesuits. The Indian title to the southern portion of 
the territory having been extinguished by the treaty of 1833, the advance 
guards of the early pioneers arrived in 1835, '^"^' settled where Kenosha, Ra- 
cine, Milwaukee and Sheboygan now are. The next year, 1836, the regular 
settlement of the country commenced, and, it is truthfully said, that no part 
of the United States was ever settled more rapidly, after its commencement. 
In these days, railroads were in their infancy, even in the eastern states. 

Eastern Wisconsin was easily reached by Lake Michigan, while the rich 
and fertile prairies and the valuable timber in the central and western portions 
of the territory were so inaccessible, that it was at first suggested that part of 
this territory could be reached by canal. Consequently, a valuable land grant 
was given by congress, for the purpose of constructing the Milwaukee and 
Rock river canal, with the view of uniting Lake Michigan with the Rock river. 
On January 5, 1838, the house of representatives passed an act incorporat- 
ing the Milwaukee and Rock river canal. The company constructed a dam 
across the Milwaukee river, which was within the present city hmits, and also 
constructed about two miles of the canal, then the scheme was abandoned. 
Upon the abandonment of the water communication, the attention of the 
community was turned to the construction of the railroads, as the most feasi- 
ble means of communicating with the commercial world. No general rail- 
road law was enacted, either by the terrttory or state, prior to 1872. Up to 
this time, all companies organized for the construction of railroads were incor- 
porated by special charter. 

One of the most extensive and best equipped railroad organizations in the 
northwest is the Chicago and North-Western Railway Company, which has 
its origin as follows : 

The territorial legislature, in 1848, granted a charter to the Madison and 
Beloit Railroad Company, with authority to construct a road from Beloit to 
Madison, In 1850, the state legislature granted authority to the company 
to extend the road to the Wisconsin river and LaCrosse, and to a point on the 
Mississippi river, thence to St. Paul, and also from Janesville to Fond du Lac. 
Under the authority of the legislature its name was changed to the Rock 

571 



572 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

River Valley Union Railroad Company. In 185 1, the line from Janesville, 
northward, not being pushed to the satisfaction of the people, its representatives 
secured from the legislature a charter to the Illinois and Wisconsin Railroad 
Company, with authority to consolidate with any railroad in Wisconsin. The 
Wisconsin legislature, in 1855, authorized the consolidation of the Illinois and 
Wisconsin Company with the Rock River Valley Union Railroad Company. 
The new organization was now called the Chicago, St. Paul and Fond du Lac 
Railroad Company. 

Previous to the consolidation, the Rock River Valley Union Railroad 
Company had failed and passed into the hands of its bondholders, who fore- 
closed and took consolidated stock for their bonds. The only one seriously af- 
fected by this failure was T. F. Strong, Sr., of Fond du Lac. The old management, 
under A. Hyatt Smith and John B. Macy, was superseded, and William 
B. Ogden made president. Enterprising railroad magnates, interested in 
reaching the fertile fields of the Rock river valley, and the inexhaustible 
timber of northern Wisconsin and Michigan, had constructed from Chicago 
on the wide (six feet) gauge, a road seventy miles northward to Sharon 
on the Wisconsin state line. The gauge of the road was changed to the 
standard four feet eight and one-half inches in width, and the work upon 
the line pushed northward, reaching Janesville, in 1855, and Fond du Lac, in 
1859. The Rock River Valley Union Railroad Company had built about 
thirty miles of road from Fond du Lac southward towards La Crosse Junction. 
This was before the consolidation took place. The old, partially graded line 
on a direct route between Janesville and Madison was abandoned. 

In 1852, a new charter was granted to the Beloit and Madison Railway 
Company, for the purpose of building a road from Beloit via Janesville to 
Madison. It appears that when its charter was subsequently amended, Janes- 
ville as an intermediate point was left out. This branch was pushed through 
from Beloit, reaching the city of Madison, in 1864. Kenosha and its princi- 
pal citizens were the main subscribers to its capital stock. The company hav- 
ing failed to pay interest upon the bonds which were secured by mortgage, 
the road was sold upon foreclosure to the Chicago and North- Western Railway 
Company, in 1863, and is now operated as the Kenosha division. 

The Galena and Chicago Union Railway Company built a branch of the 
Galena line from Belvidere to Beloit, previous to 1854. During that year it 
leased the Beloit and Madison road and operated it from 1856 in connection 
with the Milwaukee and Mississippi Railroad Company, reaching the city 
of Janesville, by way of Hanover Junction, eight miles west of Janesville. 

In 1855, the Galena and Chicago Union, and the Chicago and St. Paul 
Companies, were, by legislative enactments, consoUdated under the name of 
the Chicago and North-Western Railway Company. 



WISCONSIN'S RAILROADS. 573 

The Green Bay, Milwaukee and Chicago Railroad Company was char- 
tered in 185 1, for the purpose of constructing a road from Milwaukee to the 
Illinois state line, there to connect with the road from Chicago, called the Chi- 
cago and Milwaukee Railroad Company. Both of these roads were completed 
in 1855, and were operated in connection until 1853, at which time they were 
consolidated as the Chicago and Milwaukee Railroad Company. This road 
became the property of the Chicago and North- Western Railway Company, on 
May 2, 1866, by perpetual lease, and is now operated as one of its Chicago 
divisions. 

The North- Western Union Railway Company was organized under the 
general railroad law of the state, in 1872, with C. J. L. Meyer, of Fond du 
Lac, as its president, and James Coleman as secretary. The company was or- 
ganized for the purpose of constructing a direct line from Milwaukee to Fond 
du Lac, which was completed during the years 1872- 1873. The Chicago and 
North- Western Railway Company was principally interested in its construction, 
in order to shorten its line from Chicago to Green Bay. This line w\as also 
partially constructed by aid from the various towns and cities along the line 
from Fond du Lac to Milwaukee. 

In 1852, the Sheboygan and Mississippi Railroad Company was incorpo- 
rated for the purpose of building a road from Sheboygan to the Mississippi 
river. It was completed from Sheboygan to Plymouth in 1858, reaching Glen- 
beulah in i860. Fond du Lac in 1868, and Princeton in 1872. The extension 
from Fond du Lac to Princeton was sold by virtue of a decree of foreclosure, 
and the corporate name changed to Sheboygan and Fond du Lac Railroad 
Company. ' This line is seventy-eight miles in length, and passes through a 
fertile agricultural country. The cities of Sheboygan, Fond du Lac, Ripon, 
Princeton, and the counties and towns along the route, aided in its construc- 
tion to the extent of $250,000. This line has been owned and operated by the 
Chicago and North- Western Railway Company for many years, and is now 
known as the Sheboygan and Western division. 

The Milwaukee, Manitowoc and Green Bay Railroad Company was char- 
tered in 1870, to build a road from Milwaukee to Green Bay, via Manitowoc. 
Its line from Milwaukee to Manitowoc was completed in 1873, at which time 
the corporate name was changed to Milwaukee, Lake Shore and Western Rail- 
road Company. In December, 1875, the road was sold under a decree of fore- 
slosure, and its name changed to Milwaukee, Lake Shore and Western Railway 
Company. This line has always been owned by the Chicago and North-West- 
ern Railway Company, although operated by separate management, until Sep- 
tember I, 1893, at which time its management was placed directly under the 
control of the Chicago and North-Western Railway Company. 



574 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

In 1866, the Appleton and New London Railroad Company was incor- 
porated to build a road from Appleton to New London, and from thence to 
Lake Superior. Its charter was' afterwards amended, authorizing it to extend 
its road to Manitowoc. This line was sold to the Lake Shore and Western 
Railroad Company, which company extended it to New London, on the Wolf 
river, -vyhere it connects with the Green Bay and Minnesota road. This was 
also a branch of the Milwaukee, Lake Shore and Western, which is now one 
of the arteries of the great Chicago and North- Western Railway system. 

The Baraboo Air Line Railroad Company was incorporated in 1870, for 
the purpose of constructing a road from Madison, Columbus or AVaterloo, via 
Baraboo, to La Crosse, or any point on the Mississippi. This line was organ- 
ized in the interest of the Chicago and North- Western Railway Company, with 
which it consolidated, and the work of building a connecting line between 
Madison and Winona Junction was vigorously pushed forward. Lodi was 
reached in 1870, Baraboo in 187 1, and Winona Junction in 1874. Some por- 
tions of this road were very expensive in construction. The ridges between 
Elroy and Sparta were tunneled with much difficulty and at great cost. The 
company in 1874 reported an expenditure for its three tunnels of $476,743.32, 
while the one hundred and twenty-nine and one-tenth" miles between Madison 
and Winona Junction necessitated the expenditure of $5,342,169.96. 

In 1867, the Chicago and North- Western Railway Company bought the 
principal interest in the Winona and St. Peter Railway, from D. N. Barney & 
Co., a line being built westerly from Winona, in Minnesota, and of which one 
hundred and five miles had been constructed. It also bought of the same 
parties their interest in the La Crosse, Trempealeau and Prescott Railway, a 
line being built from Winona Junction, three miles east of La Crosse, to Winona, 
Minnesota. This last line was put in operation in 1870, and is twenty-nine 
miles long. With the completion of its Madison branch to Winona Junction, 
in 1873, it had in operation from Chicago, via Madison and Winona, to Lake 
Kampesha, Minnesota, a distance of six hundred and twenty-three miles. 

In the year of 1856 congress granted to the state of Wisconsin a large 
and valuable tract of land, to aid in the construction of railroads. The Chi- 
cago, St. Paul and Fond du Lac Railroad Company claimed that the grant was 
obtained through its efforts, and that therefore it should have the so-called 
northwestern grant. The contest made at the adjourned session of the legis- 
lature of 1856 resulted in the grant being conferred upon the Wisconsin and 
Superior Railroad Company, a corporation chartered for the express purpose. 
The general impression was, at this time, that the new company was organized 
in the interest of the Chicago, St. Paul and Fond du Lac Company, as it con- 
solidated with that company in the spring of the same year, and thus obtained, 
or shared in, the grant of 3,840 acres per mile along its entire line, from Fond 



WISCOtJSIN'S RAILROADS. 575 

du Lac, northerly, to the Michigan Hne. The consohdation extended its road 
to Oshkosh in 1859, to Appleton in 1861, and, in 1862, to Fort Howard, thus 
forming a line two hundred and forty-two miles long. The line from Fort 
Howard to Escanaba, Michigan, one hundred and fourteen miles long, was 
opened in December, 1872, and made a connection with the Peninsula Railroad 
of Michigan. The consolidation now became a part of the Chicago and 
North-Western Railway Company, extending from Escanaba to the iron mines, 
and thence to Lake Superior at Negaunee. 

Early Engines and Engineers. 

Benjamin Garvin*, the veteran engineer, who ran the first locomotive over 
the Green Mountains in Vermont, from Windsor to Northfield, in 1848, to 
Montpelier, in 1849, ^^^ ^^ Burlington and Rouse's Point, in 1850, and who 
is now one of Fond du Lac's good citizens, was twice sent to Erie, Pennsylva- 
nia, early in 1854, and once to Dunkirk, New York, by the Illinois and Wis- 
consin Railroad Company, returning in the spring of the same year, with 
three six-foot gauge engines. The Erie engines were loaded on flat cars at 
Erie, Pennsylvania, run to Toledo, there unloaded and sent across the river on 
a scow, reloaded on cars and sent to Chicago, where they were again unloaded, 
near the Michigan Southern depot, loaded on a scow and run up the river to 
where the old North-Western depot and shops were located, on Kinzie street. 
The first engine brought to Chicago by Ben Garvin was called the " Chicago." 
This was unloaded at Chicago, May 5, 1854. On May 25th, he unloaded a 
locomotive, called the '' Keystone," and on June 6th, the one called the '' Erie." 

That part of the Chicago and North-Western Railway Company's road 
now known as the Wisconsin division, was commenced at Fond du Lac on 
Jul}'- 10, 1851, and at Chicago somewhat later. The road was built on the 
six-foot gauge, and completed from Fond du Lac to Chester, in October, 1852, 
and from Chester to La Crosse Junction, during ihe winter of 1855-56, reach- 
ing the latter place on March 6, 1856. The La Crosse road had already 
passed that point several days previous. The southern terminus of the road 
was built from Chicago to Woodstock, on the six-foot gauge plan, and from 
thence to Elk Grove, which was completed in 1853, and to Woodstock in the 
fall of 1854 and spring of 1855. 

The gauge of the road was changed from the six-foot to standard from 
Chicago to Woodstock in 1855 ; from Woodstock to Janesville the road had 
been built on the standard gauge plan ; from La Crosse Junction to Fond du Lac 



*Ben Garvin, was born at Chichester, New Hampshire, October 2, 1823, and was 
considered one of the best engineers and mechanics in the United States. Mr. Garvin was 
in the employ of the Chicago and North-Western Railway Company, and its various prede- 
cessors, from 1854 up to 1872. 



576 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

the gauge was changed May 19, 1856, to the standard gauge. The first engine 
on the standard gauge at the southern terminus was the "Woodstock ," a 
Hinckley engine. 

The first locomotive placed on the northern terminus of the road, at Fond 
du Lac, was the " Winnebago," a fourteen-ton Hinckley engine, which was 
hauled over from Sheboygan, via the old plank road, arriving at Fond du Lac 
on Sunday afternoon, September 12, 1852, where she was viewed by thou- 
sands of curious people. This little engine met with some adversities while 
being toted over from Sheboygan, besides causing considerable damage to 
the road and bridges en route. At one point on the road she was stuck in 
the mud for several days, but was gotten out after much hard work and con- 
siderable profanity. The toll adjusted and paid to the plank road company 
was $1,200. It must have been an unique sight to have seen this little iron 
giant hauled through a comparative wilderness, by more than twenty yoke of 
oxen, accompanied by numerous teamsters, and several overseers, and viewed 
by many spectators, consisting of early settlers and awe-struck Indians. 

The first engineer of the " Winnebago " was one Wood, who arrived with 
it at Fond du Lac. Its next engineer was Philander Steenberg, who now re- 
sides at Fond du Lac, and is as hale and hearty as in those pioneer days. 
The " Winnebago" was rebuilt standard guage in 1856, under the supervision 
of Mr. Garvin, at the Fond du Lac shops. 

The second engine to arrive at Fond du Lac from Sheboygan, over this 
same route, was the " Fountain City," a twenty-seven-ton engine, which ar- 
rived in the fall of 1854. The first engineer of the " Fountain City" was Dan 
Richardson, who is known as " Happy Dan," and who, for many years, re- 
sided on his farm in the town of Fond du Lac, but recently removed to 
Louisiana. 

The third engine, which was operated for a short time on the northern end 
of the road, was the " Rock River," which was brought from Chicago in the 
spring of 1856, by way of La Crosse Junction. This celebrated engine was 
placed on the road at Minnesota Junction by Engineer Ben Garvin, on May 
5, 1856, and run to Fond du Lac on May 19th. This was the same engine 
run by Philander Steenberg between Chicago and Woodstock in the early 
days. 

The "Winnebago," after many years ot usefulness, was relegated to the 
scrap pile about 1869, while the " Fountain City" and "Rock River" were 
sold to the New York and Erie Railway in 1856. 

The first passenger train from Fond du Lac to La Crosse Junction, mak- 
ing a through line frour Milwaukee, was run on March 6, 1856. The first 
through train from Chicago to Fond du Lac was in the fall of 1859, and the first 



WISCONSIN'S RAILROADS. 577 

train from Fond du Lac to Chicago was run about the same time. The first 
train from Oshkosh to Chicago was on October 17, 1859. The first train 
which run into the city of Oshkosh was on the 31st day of July, 1858, with 
Ben Garvin at the throttle. 

The First Great Disaster. 

On November i, 1859, an excursion train started from Oshkosh, and at 
Fond du Lac was made up with the regular passenger train for Chicago. 
This was a free excursion, celebrating the completion of the road through 
to Oshkosh. The engine " Perry H. Smith," was run by one George 
McNamara. The train was made up of eleven coaches, with Arthur 
A. Hobart, conductor, and contained about sixteen hundred people. 
At Watertown additional excursionists were taken aboard. When the train, 
which was running at about twelve miles per hour, reached Belleville, now 
called Johnson's Creek, the engine struck an ox, which at the crossing had 
become frightened, ran along the track, and became entangled in the cattle- 
guards of a culvert, and the engine was thrown from the track, and several 
passenger coaches telescoped. The scene was one of indescribable confusion 
and excitement. There were at least two hundred persons in the four demol- 
ished cars. Fourteen persons were killed, or died soon after from injuries, while 
many were seriously injured. 

T. F. Strong, Jr., who was on the train, was at once sent by his father, 
the assistant superintendent of the railroad company, to Watertown for assist- 
ance. The young man, without permission, appropriated a horse and buggy 
that he found tied near a farm house, and hastened with it to Watertown, 
which was about eight miles from the wreck. Fortunately upon his arrival he 
found a gravel-train nearly unloaded. Making his errand known, the flat-cars 
were soon laden with beds, liquors, bandages, physicians and everything that 
could be of service on such an occasion. Within a short time the relief train 
was at the wreck, and conveyed the dead and dying to Watertown. 

Among those killed were Major J. Thomas, United States marshal, who 
was thrown into a mudhole head foremost and drowned. T. L. Gillet, one of 
the promoters of the road, was crushed, torn and disemboweled; Jerome 
Mason, the express agent and telegraph operator, was thrown across the stove 
and so shockingly burned that he was only recognized by his boots ; John 
Boardman and Isadore Snow, two carpenters, were instandy killed ; Edward 
H. Sickles, a bookbinder, was badly crushed, and died shortly afterwards ; Van 
Buren Smead, of the Democratic Press, had his skull fractured and died 
November 29th. All of these were' Fond du Lac people. The balance of 
the killed were four from Oshkosh and three from Watertown and other places. 



578 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

Among those seriously injured were Judge Robert Flint, Mrs. R. M. 
Lewis, Mrs. James Kinney, Mrs. John Radford, Edward Beeson, J. Q. Grif- 
fith, James W. Partridge, and A. D. Bonesteel, all of Fond du Lac. Many 
others were cut and bruised. 

The able but eccentric Dr. D, A. Raymond, of Fond du Lac, and one of 
the passengers, had a presentiment that an accident would happen, and in 
consequence took with him a case of surgical instruments and lint. Dr. T. S. 
Wright did the same. 

Among the prominent passengers aboard the unfortunate train, were 
Perry H. Smith, the vice-president of the road, T. F. Strong, Sr., the assistant 
superintendent, Robert Drummond and Edward S. Bragg. 

It is a strange incident, but nevertheless true, that the mate of the ox 
that caused this wreck, the following year, nearly wrecked a twin engine and 
a train at the same pomt. The engine " Perry H. Smith " was so unfortunate 
that engineers on the road became superstitious, and refused to run her, thus 
necessitating her transfer. 

The Fond du Lac Cotnmonwealth of November 2, 1859, in describing 
the disaster, said : 

" The smash-up took place in the woods, on low, marshy ground, there 
being a deep ditch on each side filled with water. The engine and cars 
that left the track were plunged into the water, mud and soft ground, 
and not less than three cars were utterly demolished — a mass of sphnters 
above the body of the car, and the strong frames driven deep into 
the earth. There were seven cars, filled lo a jam, that did not get thrown from 
the track or any person injured on them save those who were standing on the 
platform. In one minute after the crash, we never saw a cooler set of men, or 
a band of more heroic women. They leaped to the work of saving others 
with remarkable effectiveness, and it seemed but a few moments before all were 
dragged from the ruins, the dead decently cared for, and the wounded made 
far more comfortable than one would conceive possible in such a location. 
The cushioned seats of cars, laid upon doors, made passable beds, while the 
ladies' skirts were freely stripped to make bandages for the wounded." 

The most excited man among the passengers was big-hearted Perry H. 
Smith, while the coolest on board was the little lawyer, who afterwards won 
fame as one of the generals of the famous Iron Brigade — Edward S. Bragg. 

The Chicago and North- Western Railway Company now owns and operates 
1,337.84 miles of main line in Wisconsin, besides several hundred miles of branch 
and leased lines. The chairman of the Board of this most prosperous and enter- 
prising company is Albert Keep, of Chicago; Marvin Hughitt, of Chicago is 
the president; M. L. Sykes, of New York City, is the secretary and treasurer; 
and Wm. A. Thrall, of Chicago, general passenger and ticket agent — all men of 
exceptional ability. 



■ ■ ■ ■ ■ 



Chicago & North-Western Railway 5,061.53 

Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha Railway 1,481.61 

Fremont, Eikhorn & Missouri Valley Railroad 1,300 53 

Sioux City & Pacific Railroad ' 07.42 

Total 7.95109 




WISCONSIN'S RAILROADS. 579 

Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway Company. 

Central, southern and western Wisconsin have been, from immense prairies, 
vast forests and countless mines, transformed into beautiful agricultural dis- 
tricts, manufacturing, commercial and mining centers, through the influence 
of that great developer of civilization of the northwest, the Chicago, Milwau- 
kee and St. Paul Railway Company, and the companies upon which this great 
corporation was founded. 

The territorial government 01 1841 chartered the Milwaukee and Wau- 
kesha Railroad Company from Milwaukee to Waukesha. On November 23rd 
of this year, the charter members of the company met at the city hall at Mil- 
waukee and elected Dr. L. W, Weeks president and Alexander W. Randall, 
afterwards governor, secretary. On the first Monday of February, 1848, sub- 
scription books were opened, and by April 5, 1849, capital stock had been sub- 
scribed in the sum of $100,000, and five per cent, thereon paid, as required by 
the charter, before perfecting its organization. 

Previous to March, 1S48, an act had been passed amending the charter 
and authorizing the company to extend its road from Waukesha to Madison, 
and from thence to the Mississippi river. In 1850, the name of the corpora- 
tion was changed to the Milwaukee and Mississippi Railroad Company. In 
these days, it will be remembered, that neither in Milwaukee nor within the 
state were there any capitalists, therefore the project of building a railroad from 
Lake Michigan to the Mississippi river reciuired the efforts of active, energetic 
men of more than ordinary ability. The city of Milwaukee, through its repre- 
sentatives, seeing the necessity of the construction of a road to the Mississippi, 
was induced to give its credit for that purpose, and in consequence, during the 
month of February, 185 1, the road was completed to Waukesha, a distance of 
twenty miles, while through the year the road was completed to Eagle, a dis- 
tance of thirty-four miles from Milwaukee. In the fall of 1852, the road was 
completed to Milton, in Rock county. This company not having the 
authority to build to Janesville, a company was organized and a charter granted 
to the Southern Wisconsin Railroad Company for that purpose, and the eight 
miles of road constructed from Milton to Janesville, connecting Milwaukee 
with Janesville in January, 1853. 

During the year of 1853, the main line was extended to Stoughton and 
early in 1854 it reached Madison, and two years later, in 1856, the line was 
completed through to Prairie du Chien. A subsequent charter authorized the 
construction of a road from Milton via Janesville to the Mississippi river. 
The road already built from Milton to Janesville was purchased and at once 
extended to Monroe. At this time the Milwaukee and Mississippi Company 
had constructed two hundred and thirty-four miles of railroad. In i860, the 



580 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

company, being in default on account of its interest, which necessitated a fore- 
closure, the purchasers under the foreclosure formed a new company, the 
Milwaukee and Prairie du Chien Railroad Company, which took all of the 
rights and property of its predecessor. 

We quote the following from John W. Cary's " Organization and His- 
tory of the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway Company: " 

" The Milwaukee, Fond du Lac and Green Bay Railroad Company was 
chartered in the winter of 1853. In the spring of that year the company was 
organized and active operations commenced — James Kneeland, president. 
The city of Milwaukee was induced to loan its credit to the company, to 
the extent of $200,000 in city bonds. Depot grounds were secured in Mil- 
waukee, and considerable grading was accomplished between Milwaukee 
and Richfield, when the company became embarrassed, and in January, 
1854, it was consolidated with the La Crosse and Mihvaukee Railroad Com- 
pany. This last named company was chartered in 1852, to construct a rail- 
road from La Crosse to Milwaukee. Byron Kilbourn, Moses M. Strong and 
Timothy Burns were prominent among the projectors. The company was 
organized during the same year in which the charter was obtained. The first 
meeting of the commissioners was held at La Crosse, and the first board of 
directors was chosen at the city of Madison, in August of the same year. By- 
ron Kilbourn was elected president, and Edwin H. Goodrich, secretary. 
After its consohdation with M., F. & G. B., the La Crosse company took 
possession of the partially graded line, and the work was vigorously pressed 
forward. The road was completed to Horicon, fifty miles from Milwaukee, 
in December, 1855, and to Portage, ninety-five miles, in December, 1856. 

"The Milwaukee and Watertown railroad was chartered in 185 1, and 
soon after organized and commenced the construction of a road from a point 
thirteen miles west of Milwaukee, on the Milwaukee and Mississippi road, 
through Oconomowoc to Watertown. Its charter also provided that the line 
might be extended by way of Portage to La Crosse. In 1856, the road was 
completed to Watertown. The line of road projected by this company was 
parallel to, and, on an average, not more than twelve miles distant from, the 
line of the La Crosse company ; thus, to a great extent, occupying the same 
territory, and this fact gave rise to bitter hostility between the companies to 
each other's projects. A portion of the land-grant, made by congress June 3, 
1856, was to aid the construction of a railroad from Madison or Columbus, by 
way of Portage City, to the St. Croix river or lake, between townships twenty- 
five or thirty-one, and thence to the west end of Lake Superior, and to Bay- 
field. The legislature was assembled in September of that year to dispose of 
this grant. The La Crosse and Watertown companies, together with a new 
company, formed in Madison, were eager competitors for this portion of the 



WISCONSIN'S RAILROADS. 581 

grant. After a long contest, it was finally settled by consolidating the two first 
named companies, under the name of the La Crosse and Milwaukee Railroad 
Company, and authorizing it to construct the lines of road named in the grant, 
in addition to the lines originally provided for in the respective charters of the 
two companies. This portion of the land-grant was then conferred upon the 
consolidated company ; but not until the hands of the governor, and many 
of the members of the legislature, as legislative investigation subsequently 
demonstrated, had been shamefully soiled with railroad bonds taken as " pecu- 
niary compliments" — for their support of the bill. The La Crosse Company, 
during 1857-58, completed its main line to La Crosse, the Watertown line from 
Watertown to Columbus, and partially graded the line from Madison to Port- 
age. Neither it, nor its successors, ever received any part of the lands of the 
land-grant. 

" The Milwaukee and Horicon Road was chartered in 1852, and al- 
though built by a separate company, was, in effect, a branch of the La Crosse 
and Milwaukee Company. It was constructed between the years 1855 and 
1858, commencing at Horicon, on the La Crosse and Milwaukee Road and 
extending north through Waupun and Ripon to Berlin, on Fox river, a dis- 
tance of about forty-two miles. 

" In 1877, the La Crosse Company sold to the Madison, Fond du Lac 
and Michigan Company that portion of its road acquired by consolidation 
with the Milwaukee and Watertown Company, which was afterwards consoli- 
dated with the Watertown and Madison Com])any, and the name changed to 
the Milwaukee and Western Railroad Company. The line of this company 
comprised about eighty miles of road, extending from Brookfield Junction, 
thirteen miles west of Milwaukee, through ^Vatertown to Columbus, with a 
branch from Watertown, by way of Waterloo, to Sun Prairie, twelve miles east 
of Madison. 

" In 1858 and 1859, the La Crosse and Horicon companies defaulted in 
the payment of the interest of their bonded debts, and several suits were in- 
stituted to foreclose the different trust deeds given to secure their bonds, to- 
gether with other suits commenced to enforce the payment of their floating 
debts. This led to protracted litigation, extending through several years, 
both in the state and federal courts, which was finally settled in 1868 by the 
decision of the supreme court of the United States. Decrees of foreclosure 
and sale were obtained in 1862, and in the spring of 1863 both roads were sold 
and purchased for associations of the bond-holders." 

The organization of this company was based upon and grev.' out of the 
La Crosse and Milwaukee Railroad Company, and its associate lines, by virtue 
of the foreclosure of mortgages given by that company, which foreclosures 
were thoroughly contested in the United States courts and by the supreme 



582 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

court. On May 5, 1863, articles of association were filed in the office of the 
secretary of state of Wisconsin, and the corporation organized under the laws 
of the state by the name of Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway Company. On 
the same day William W. Pratt and William H. White conveyed to the Mil- 
waukee and St. Paul Railway Company all of that portion of the La Crosse and 
Milwaukee Railroad from Madison by way of Portage City to La Crosse, to- 
gether with all of the engines, rolling-stock and other equipments of every 
kind and description, and delivered said deeds so executed to the newly organ- 
ized company. 

As early as 1865, when Alexander Mitchell, of Milwaukee, was president 
and S. S. Merrill general manager of the Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway 
Company, the company operated six hundred and eighty-six miles of road in 
Wisconsin, and in all fourteen hundred miles. Its lines extended from Mil- 
waukee to St. Paul and Minneapolis, and to Algona, in Iowa, and over the 
Western Union to Savannah and Rock Island, in the state of Illinois. 

It is said by no less authority than John W. Cary, in his history of this 
corporation, that in the early days of the Milwaukee and Mississippi Railroad 
Company they adopted and executed plans for raising funds, by procuring 
farmers to subscribe to the capital stock of the company and mortgaging their 
farms as security for their notes given for such subscriptions. The well-named, 
plausible and designing gentleman. Deacon Clinton, was early engaged on that 
branch of business on the Mississippi road, and afterwards employed as a special 
director of the La Crosse road, and devoted his whole time to procuring sub- 
scriptions from the farmers on this plan. We quote from Mr. Cary's " Organi- 
zation and History of the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway Com- 
pany :" 

" In all over eleven hundred thousand dollars of this class of subscrip- 
tions were obtained for the La Crosse Company. 

" The modus operandi was for the farmer to subscribe to the stock, give 
his note for the amount of his subscription, payable to the order of the com- 
pany, secured by a mortgage on his farm, bearing from eight to ten per cent, 
interest. The company then attached to said note and mortgage its bond 
guaranteeing the payment of the note and mortgage, principal and interest, 
and in and by the terms of the bond the note and mortgage were assigned to 
the holder, and such note, mortgage and bond were sold in the market together 
as one security, and not separately, the note not indorsed. An agreement was 
also given to the farmer by which the company agreed to pay the interest on 
the note until it became due, in consideration of which the farmer made an 
assignment of his prospective dividends on the stock so subscribed for suffi- 
cient to pay said interest. 



WISCONSIN'S RAILROADS. 583 

" It is needless to say that this stock proved worthless and that the farmers 
were compelled to pay their mortgages and in very many cases lost their 
farms." 

The Oshkosh and Mississippi Railroad Company was chartered in 1866, 
for the purpose of constructing a road from the city of Oshkosh to the Missis- 
sippi river. The road was constructed to Ripon in 1872, with the purpose of 
connecting Oshkosh with the Milwaukee and St. Paul road. It is twenty 
miles in length and now operated by the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul 
Railway Company. 

The Western Union Railroad Company, in 187 1 and '72, built a road from 
Milwaukee to the state line, between Wisconsin and Illinois, to connect with a 
road constructed from Chicago to the Wisconsin state line. This line was 
built in the interest of the Milwaukee and St. Paul Company, to afford a con- 
nection between its Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa systems and the eastern 
trunk lines centering in Chicago. 

Upon the ist day of April, 1872, Sherburn S. Merrill, John W. Cary, 
Hans Crocker, Sanford B. Perry, E. S. Wadsworth and Anthony G. Van 
Schaick, under the general railroad law of Illinois, organized the Chicago, Mil- 
waukee and St. Paul Railway Company, and filed the articles of association in 
the office of the secretary of state on that day. While the consolidation of the 
company known as the Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway Company was in fact 
previously consolidated, yet the name was not changed by vote of the stock- 
holders until February 7th, and the certificate filed with the secretary of state 
of Wisconsin, until February 11, 1874. 

On June 30, 1892, the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway Com- 
pany's total of main lines in Wisconsin was 1,374.66, while the total of its re- 
spective lines and branches in the various states were 5,721.40. 

The president of this company is Roswell Miller, of Chicago. Frank S. 
Bond, of New York City, is the vice-president ; P. M. Meyers, of Milwaukee, 
the treasurer; and George H. Heafford, of Chicago, the general passenger 
and ticket agent. 

The Wisconsin Central Railroad Company. 

Of all the railroads constructed in the state during the past quarter of a cen- 
tury, none has been more conducive to the general welfare of the state than the 
Wisconsin Central Railroad. This road passes through a section of our state 
hitherto unsettled, and opened up for settlement an immense region of heavily 
timbered land and productive mines, thus greatly contributing to the growth 
and prosperity of the state. 

In 1870, the Milwaukee and Northern Railway Company was incorpo- 
rated to build a road from Milwaukee to some point on the Fox river, below Lake 



584 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

Winnebago, and from thence to Lake Superior, with various branches. Its 
road was completed between Milwaukee and Menasha, a distance of one hun- 
dred and two miles, in 1873, with a branch from Hilbert to Green Bay, a 
distance of twenty-seven miles. During the same year of its completion it 
leased its line to the Wisconsin Central Railroad Company. 

During the year of 1864, congress made a grant of land to the state of 
Wisconsin, to aid in the construction of a railroad from Berlin, Doty's Island, 
Fond du Lac or Portage, by way of Stevens Point, to Bayfield or Superior, 
giving under the terms of the grant the odd sections within ten miles on each 
side of the line, with an indemnity limit of twenty miles on each side. The 
legislature, during its session in 1865, failed to dispose of this land grant, but 
the next legislature provided for the organization of two companies, one to 
construct a railroad from Portage City via Berlin to Stevens Point, and the 
other from Menasha to the same point, and then jointly to Bayfield and Lake 
Superior. The first company was called the Winnebago and Lake Superior 
Railroad Company, and the latter the Portage and Superior Railroad Company. 
In 1869, an act was passed by the legislature consolidating the two companies, 
under the name of the Portage, Winnebago and Superior Railroad Company. 
In 187 1, the name of the company was, by legislative enactment, changed to 
the Wisconsin Central Railroad Company. 

Upon the organization of the Winnebago and Lake Superior Company, 
under George Reed, its president, the work of constructing the line between 
Menasha and Stevens Point was rapidly pushed forward. In 1871, the Wis- 
consin Central Railroad Company consolidated with the Manitowoc and Mis- 
sissippi Railroad Company. The articles of consolidation provided that Gard- 
ner Colby, a director of the last-named company, sliould be the president, and 
that George Reed, a director of the former company, should be vice-president 
of the new organization. It was further provided in the articles of incorpora- 
tion that Gardner Colby, George Reed and Elijah B. Phillips should be and 
remain its executive committee. 

The Phillips and Colby Construction Company was incorporated in 187 1, 
by which articles of incorporation E. B. Phillips, C. L. Colby, Henry Pratt 
and others associated for the purpose of building railroads, and all things per- 
taining to such construction and operation. This construction company con- 
tracted with the Wisconsin Central Railroad Company to build its line of road 
from Menasha to Lake Superior. 

In November, 1873, the Wisconsin Central leased of the Milwaukee and 
Northern Railroad Company its line of road from Schwartzburg to Menasha, 
and the branch road to Green Bay, for the period of nine hundred and ninety- 
nine years, and also acquired under said lease the right of the latter company 
to use the track of the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway Company, 



WISCONSIN'S RAILROADS. 585 

between Schwartzburg and Milwaukee, together with the depot facilities in the 
city of Milwaukee. The construction of this important line was commenced 
in 187 1, and finished from Menasha to Stevens Point in November of the same 
year. From Stevens Point the line was built one hundred miles northward to 
Worcester, in 1872. During the years 1872 and 1873 the road was built south- 
ward from Ashland to Penoka iron ridge, a distance of thirty miles, leaving a 
gap of forty-two miles between Worcester and Penoka iron ridge, which was 
closed in June, 1877. 

The straight line between Portage City and Stevens Point, the construc- 
tion of which was authorized by an act of legislature in 1875, was built be- 
tween October i, 1875, and October 20, 1876, a distance of seventy-one 
miles. 

During 1882 and 1883, the Milwaukee and Lake Winnebago Railroad 
Company constructed a railroad extending from Neenah to Schleisingerville, a 
distance of sixty-three and eighty-five hundredths miles. At the same time 
the Chicago, Wisconsin and Minnesota Railroad Company constructed a line 
from Schleisingerville to the Illinois state line, where it connected with the line 
from Chicago to that point, operated under the same name. The Chicago, 
Wisconsin and Minnesota Railroad Comi)any and the Milwaukee and Lake 
Winnebago Railroad Company were constructed in the interest of the W^iscon- 
sin Central Railroad Company, and are a part of that company's railroad system 
in Wisconsin and Illinois. 

The Wisconsin Central Railroad Company's lines in Wisconsin are 758.81 
miles, including spurs and branches. The Wisconsin Central lines were, for 
several years prior to October i, 1893, operated under a lease by the Northern 
Pacific Railroad Company. On or about October i, 1893, the Wisconsin 
Central Railroad lines in Wisconsin w^ere, liy order of court, severed from the 
management of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, and placed under the 
management of the genial and courteous H. F. Whitcomb, as receiver. Mr. 
H. F. Whitcomb was the general manager of the Milwaukee, Lake Shore and 
Western Railway Company for many years, and is considered one of the best 
railroad men in the state. 

The Green Bay, Winona and Sr. Paul Railroad Company. 

This company was originally chartered, in 1866, as the Green Bay and 
Lake Pepin Railroad Company, for the purpose of building a road from the 
mouth of the Fox river, near Green Bay, to the Mississippi river, opposite 
Winona. During the year of 1870 preHminary surveys were made, and during 
the latter part of that year and the succeeding year, 187 1, forty miles of road 
were constructed and put in operation. In 1872, one hundred and fourteen 
miles were graded and the track laid. In 1873, the balance of the road was 



586 HISTORY OF WISCONSIN. 

built, sixty-two miles, reaching the river. In 1876, it acquired the right to use 
what was known as the " Winona cut-off," between Winona and Onalaska, 
and built a road from the latter point seven miles to La Crosse, thus connecting 
it with one of the principal cities on the Mississippi river. 

This road was commenced under discouraging circumstances, and was 
only pushed through by the energy of a few men at Green Bay and along its 
line. The city of La Crosse aided the extension of the road by subscribing 
seventy-five thousand dollars, which was secured by corporation bonds for that 
amount. 

Samuel Sloan, president of this company, and Theodore Sturgis, its sec- 
retary and treasurer, reside in the city of New York, while S. W. Champion, 
its general manager, J. B. Last, its general passenger and ticket agent, and F. 
B. Seymour, its superintendent, reside at Green Bay. The total number of 
miles of main lines owned by this company are 209.30, with 15.50 miles of 
branch and leased lines. 

Table of Railroads and Railroad Lines in Wisconsin. 

(Railroad Lines hereinbefore mentioned are not included.) 

Miles Miles 

Name of Compaxy. of Main Branch 

Lines. Lines. 

Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha Ry. Co 497. 69.18 

Chicago, Burlington & Northern R. R. Company 222.43 -'^• 

Chicago, Fairchild and Eau Claire River Ry. Co 16. 

Chicago, Madison & Northern R. R. Co 91-31 

Chippewa River «& Menomonie Ry. Co 22. 

Duluth Short Line Ry. Co 1.75 

Duluth, South Shore & Atlantic Ry. Co 67.86 62.03 

Eastern Railway Company of Minnesota 22.10 2.61 

Goodyear, Neillsville & Northern Ry. Co 15. 

Kewaunee, Green Bay & Western R. R Co 32-91 

Kickapoo Valley & Northern Ry. Company 34. 

Menomonie R. R. Co 5.02 

Milwaukee & Northern Ry. Co 255.50 

St. Paul Eastern Grand Trunk Ry. Co 60.02 

Minneapolis, St. Paul & Sault Ste. Marie Ry. Co 271.42 

Northern Pacific R. R. Co 88.89 

Milwaukee & Superior Ry. Co 11.60 

Milwaukee, Bay View & Chicago R. R. Co 12. 

Oshkosh Transportation Co 4.10 

Prairie du Chien & McGregor Ry. Company 1.75 

Port Edward, Centralia & Northern Ry. Co 30. 



.5- 



WISCONSIN'S RAILROADS. 

Taiu-e of Railroads and Railroad Lixls. — Continued. 
Name ok Company. 



Miles 

okMalv 

Lines. 



vSault Ste. Marie c*v: South-Western Ry. Co 37 

St. Cloud, Grantsburg & Ashland Ry. Co 12 

Abbottsford & North-P^astern R. R. Co 15 

Packwaukee & Montello R. R. Co 7 

Wisconsin & Chippewa Ry. Co 5 

West Range R. R. Co 7 



16 
86 



587 



Miles 

Brancic 

Lines. 




' Thus she calls him and she beckons 
From the river, dark and silent. 
Mowing calmly far below ' 



OF j 

,OVERS'fcE/\P. { 

By Otto Soubron. 

Where the rocks in grandeur tower, 
This the tale the wavelets murmur, 
This the song the caves re-echo 
Of the legend of the river; 
(31 Weharka and Oyeka; 
Of the victory of Love: 
'Tis a tale of hate and vengeance, 
I-ull of uncurbed, savage passion; 
Full of never-dying love! 

The impossible had happened: 

Chippewas had come to visit I 

In the land of the Dakota; 

They who had been death-foes ever 

Sat in council now together; 

Chased and sang and danced together; ; 

Sat and smoked the pipe of peace. 

Fair were maidens of Dakota, 

I'air were those of Chippewa: 

So it happened that the warriors j 

Billed and coo'd, like gentle wood-doves, ^ 

Vanquished by the victor, Love. 

Nearer drew the guests' departure, 
And the hearts of dusky beauties 
Beat and swelled and throbbed and fluttered 

At the painful thought of parting. i 

But the saddest of the maidens 
Was Weharka; for Oyeka, 
Only son of Chief Etoka, 
Stole her heart, and she must leave it — 
Leave it with the youth who told her 
That his own was ever hers! 
Ah, the low notes of his reed-flute, 
In the nights so white and silent. 
Drew the tear-fount from her eye-lids! 
When she sat on high embankment 
With her lover, looking downward 
i 



To the floods of the broad river 

That beneath them sighed and imirnuued. 

Ill her heart stole secret envy — 

Envy of the playful wavelets 

That would clasp him, that would kiss him 

When herself must dwell afar! 
" Let my people go without me," 

Said she to the man thus cherished; 
"All the bonds I gladly sever — 

Let me stay but in thy presence; 

Let me share with thee thy wigwam, 

Be thy wife, thy docile slave! " 

But with brow of cloudy darkness, 
And a voice betok'ning sadness, 
Thus responded young Oyeka: 

" Oh, my life's bright light, Weharka, 
Never canst thou share my wigwam ! 
Never shall unite in wedlock 
Chippewa with the Dakota, 
Is the law of Manitou! 
All I am and have, Weharka, 
I would give to see thee happy, 
Shed for thee my own red life-blood. 
As my wife here in Dakota 
Shame and death would be thy lot! 
Therefore, sweet one, thou must leave me, 
And forget that e'er I loved thee, 
Thee, the prairie's choicest flower! " 
Weeping, trembling and despairing. 
Clinging to the red man's bosom, 
These the words she faintly uttered : 

" It will kill me, oh Oyeka! 
I shall die, my love, without thee. 
Wither like the prairie flower 
'Neath the north-wind's icy blast! 
Yet my spirit will be near thee. 
Haunt thee eVer, yes, and claim thee, 
Not in life here, but in death! " 



Then the Chippewas departed. 

With her people went Weharka, 

Dumb with pain and grief and sadness; 

Leave she took of stern Oyeka, 

Who, with clasped arms, dark and rigid. 

Faced her like a stony idol. 



All, poor fawn, why thus reproach him ? 
Stern decree of awful spirits 
INIakes him seem devoid of feeling. 
Bids him hide his pain and love, 
Makes him turn to ready hunters. 
Urge them to the stirring chase: 
Bisons on the plain are grazing, 
They have come in countless numbers. 
Mount! We are in need of robes. 

Mounted on their small, fleet horses, 
Spears in well-trained hand, e'er ready. 
Darting o'er the sun-lit prairie. 
Like the whirlwinti ride the men. 
There in countless, surging number, 
See the shaggy bisons graze! 
Ha, beneath black hair outfloating, 
How the bright wild eyes are gloatini;! 
Tigers, they, fierce, on the spring! 
Nearer to the surging herd there 
'I'hat but little dreams of danger, 
In long line up ride the hunters. 
Closing on them in death's circle. 
Singling out his chosen victim, 
Now the spear strikes fear and terror. 
And the slayers thrill with joy! 
Shout and shriek and groan are minglcil 
With the thunder of the hoofs! 
l-'rantic bisons, horses, riders. 
All in one durk mass enknotted! 
O'er the smoking, dusty prairie. 
Onward flies the bloody chase! 

Weary of the wild excitement, 
On the prairie rest the hunters, 
(lathered round the blazing camp-fire. 
On the new-won robes reclining. 
Passing round the pipe, they glory 
in relating long, minutely. 
The adventures of the chase. 
But Oyeka has not joined them. 
Sits aloof in sullen mood ; 
He no longer shares their pleasures. 
Nothing now to him the chase ; 
P'or Weharka dwells no hunger 
In the land of the 1 )akota. 



He will miss her soft voice ever, 
Dark and lonely waits his wigwam — 
Dead the bright flame of his soul! 

Such his melancholy musings, 
When a messenger aroused him, 
Struck his braves with sudden terror, 
Turned all softness quick to stone: 

"Woe, Oyeka! Woe, thy father, 
Our good chieftain, great Etoka, 
Has been slain by an assassin, 
Murdered by a Chippewa! " 
Slow and heavy rose Oyeka, 
Gazed upon the trembling speaker, 
Gazed upon the dying embers 
With a look of cruel coldness, 
With a look of deadly hatred. 
To his men then calmly spoke: 

" Chief Etoka is no longer; 
I will henceforth be your chieftain! 
Rise, and raise the cry of war! " 
Up they sprang with wild, fierce menace. 
Ringing rose the cry of vengeance: 

"Death-foes ever were the Chippewas! 
Traitors ever were the Chippewas! 
Death then to the death-foe ever! " 
Ringing rose the shout of war. 



Following the course of waters 
On the bluffs along the river, 
Camped the women of the Chippewas, 
Not suspecting that Oshonee, 
Only brother of Weharka, 
Prompted by long-rankling hatred, 
Broke the new-bound tie of friendsliip. 
Slew the chief of the Dakotas; 
Turned a traitor to his tribe. 
But a few miles from the village. 
All impatient, before day-break. 
In advance the men had started. 
While the women with the children 
Unconcerned they left behind them, 
Later in the day to follow. 

Slanting beams the sun is sending 
Through the amber-tinted foliage. 



To the spot where joyous children 
Sport and pick the falling nuts, 
While the ever-busy women 
In the merry shout and laughter 
Of the young ones gaily join. 
Wives and maidens both are happy! 
They no longer fear the meshes 
Which the women of Dakota 
Drew around their wayward lovers, 
Wove around their foolish men I 
Sad alone seems young Weharka; 
For her heart is with Oyeka, 
With the son of Chief Ktoka, 
Who in battle slew her father. 
And to whom his son Oshonee, 
Her own brother, had sworn death. 
Yet Weharka loves Oyeka, 
Loves him wildly, loves him madly, 
His while living, his in death. 

Did you hear ? The piercing war-cry 

Checks the laughter of the women, 

Stops the children's noisy sjjortl 

Painted with the War-god's colors. 

Red and black, a threatening storm-cloud. 

Like a band of awful demons, 

On the scared and trembling children; 

On the terror-stricken women. 

Dark and savage swoop stern warriors, 

And Oyeka leads them on! 

Listen to the cry of anguish; 

To tlie quick-dealt blows of tomahawks. 

As they crash into the skulls! 

Now they tear the sleeping infants 

I*'rom the breasts of frantic mothers, 

Dash their brains on tree and rock! 

Maiden, are your hands uplifted 

To the dark-browed youthful warrior 

Who but yesterday has wooed you 

With a low voice of devotion, 

With a look of untold love ? 

Vou appeal in vain, poor maiden; 

He who serves the (lod of Vengeance 

In the land of the Dakota 

Is not moved bv tears of women, 



Must renounce the God of I.ove! 
IJlind to innocence and beauty, 
lie must mow, a blood-stained reaper, 
In the vale of tears and woe. 

There, Weharka, is Oyeka! 

Has he come, poor maid, to save thee? 

With an eye of fawn-like meekness. 

Mutely raised to his, confiding, 

Kneeling, see her at his feet! 

IMty knows not the young warrior 

When he serves the God of Vengeance. 

Then prepare thee, oh Weharka, 

For Oyeka's eye means death. 

Up she springs with sudden terror, 

To the precipice she hastens, 

]£nds her woe in floods below. 



Clear the heavens, bright and moon-lit! 

From his tent forth steps Oyeka. 

Feathers from the wings of eagles 

Crown the brow of the young chieftain. 

And a warrior stern proclaim him 

On his belt the many scalp-locks. 

He has quenched his thirst for vengeance. 

He has slain the vile assassin 

Of Etoka, his loved father; 

He has drunk the traitor's life-blood. 

Torn the heart from his false bosom. 

In his frenzy, wild, exulting. 

Trampled on his reeking heart! 

Peace will find his father's spirit 
In the unknown land of shadows. 
But his own is sick and restless. 
And sweet slumber flies his couch. 
Dead the faithful, loving maiden, 
Lowly in the dust Weharka, 
Dead the idol of his soul! 
Ah, that last look of Weharka! 
Ah, those eyes of fawn-like meekness 
Raised to his in mute appeal! 
Nevermore can he forget them. 
They will haunt him evermore! 

In the sighing of the forest. 

When the breezes sway the tree-tops, 



In tlie murmur of the waters 
Sweeping past the rocks beneath him, 
In the varied tones of nature 
Now he listens for her voice. 
In the mists that float and hover 
O'er the dark and silent river 
Now he sees her phantom form. 
Yes, she calls him, calls him ever. 
In the nights of gloom and darkness, 
In the nights of storm and lightning. 
When the thunder's crash re-echoes 
From the towering, frowning rocks. 
In the nights made fair, resplendent 
With the countless starlets twinkling. 
In the nights so white and silent. 
When the moon sheds licjuid silver 
O'er the rocks and o'er the river, 
Up she drives him from his sleep. 

To the precipice he wanders; 
There he listens, there he gazes 
At the waters deep below. 
In his eyes a strange light burning — 
There he gazes, there he listens 
To her voice so sad and low: 
' Come, Oyeka, I await thee, 
Leave behind thee grief and sadness, 
From all troubles I will free thee, 
Come, with me is peace and rest! " 
Thus she calls him, and she beckons 
F'rom the river, dark and silent. 
Flowing calmly far below. 
All his heart consumed by yearning, 
Deep remorse within him burning. 
Long he stood there, long he listened 
To the sweet voice of the spirit. 
And she wooed him, and she won him. 
Not in life liere, but in death! 

This the simple, jilaintive story. 
Full of uncurbed, savage passion, 
Full of terror, hate and vengeance, 
Full of never-dying love! 
' lis the tale the waters murmur, 
'Tis the song the rocks re-echo 
Of the legend of the lovers. 
Of Oyeka and Weharka, 
Of the victory of Love! 



* 



I l\J O E X 



I'AflK. 

Amygdaloidal I )eposit 12 

Age of Fishes 24 

Ancient Forests 26 

Area and Population of (.'ounties 42 

Ancient Unknown F"ortifications 50-54 

Antiquities 52-57 

Allouez, Claude Jean : 81 

Bituminous Coal Origin 27 

British Supremacy in the West 115-116 

Black Hawk and Wars in Which He Participated 179 231 

Black Hawk's Early Life 179-183 

Black Hawk at Green Bay 1S8 189 

Black Hawk Assists British in War of 1812 191 

Battle of Stillman's Run 206-208 

Battle of W^isconsin Heights 215-216 

Battle of Bad Ax 219-224 

Black Hawk's Celebrated Speech at Prairie du Chien 226 

Black Hawk's Surrender 224 

Black Hawk's Visit to Washington and Eastern Cities 227-228 

Black Hawk's Death 228-230 

Black Hawk's Grave Desecrated, note 230 

Barstow, Administration of Governor 293-298 

Bashford, Administration of Governor 299-302 

Bashford-Barstow Contest 299-300 

Bribery of Ix-gislature, 1856 305-306 

Batteries, First to Thirteenth 391-402 

Boyd, Frances 473-474 

Bennett School Law 533534 

I^ragg, Gen. E. S., Illustration 528 

Coal Origin 27 

Causes of Igneous Irruptions 3 

Copper Deposits 12 

Conglomerate Deposits 12 

Cambrian Age — Potsdam Epoch 13 

Clinton Epoch 21 

Carboniferous Age 26 

Columbus and His Discoveries 59"^° 

Chickamaugun 169 

Coi. Dodge at Pecatonica 244 

Census of 1830 259 

Copper Origin • i 

Census of 1855 298 

Carpenter, Matt. H., Defeated for L'. S. Senate 437-438 

Carpenter, Malt. H., Illustration 479 

Carpenter, Death of. .' 490493 

C;ensus, Slate, 1890 535 

Chicago and North-Weslern Railway Company 57'-578 

Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway Company 579583 



INDEX. 

I'ACK. 

Density of Sphere ^ 

Devonian Age 24 

De Vaca's Thrilling Experience 66-67 

De Soto Discovers the Mississippi 69 

Death of De Soto 69 

De Villiers Killed by Young Blackbird 105-106 

Downfall of New France 112 

Decline of English Rule 128 

Depredations by Black Hawk's Bands 242-245 

Dodge, Henry, Illustration 278 

Dodge, Administration of Governor 279-280 

Doty, Administration of Governor 281-282 

Dewey, Administration of Governor 285-288 

Dodd, Harrison H., Organizes Treasonable (Orders 429-445 

Earth's Liquid Stage 2 

Earliest Known Land 4-6 

Exceptional Deposits 12 

Eocene Period 20 

Early Asiatic Emigration 45 

Early Settlers and Settlements J49"'54 

Eighth Wisconsin Battery 297 

Eleventh Wisconsin Battery 399-400 

Eviston, John W 467-469 

Formation of Islands 1^ 

First Origin of Life i^ 



Fossil Tracks. 



15 



Fossil Forests 26 

First Glacial Period 35 

French Explorers and Explorations 72-92 

First Jesuit Chapel 81 

Father Menard 81 

Father Marquette's Death and Burial 84 

French Chapel Burned 94 

French and Indian Battle near Neenah 97 

French F^xpeditions at (jreen Bay 149-150 



Fort Howard Erected ( 1 1 



Fond du Lac 176 

Fraudulent Treaty of 1804 185-186 

Farwell, Administration of Governor 289-292 

Fugitive State Law Tested 294-295 

First Wisconsin Cavalry 384-3S6 

Fourth Wisconsin Cavalry 389 

First Heavy Artillery 389-390 

First Wisconsin Battery 39' 39^ 

Fourth Wisconsin Battery 393 

Fifth Wisconsin Battery 393394 

Fairchild, Administration of (Governor 417-423 

Fires in Oconto, Brown, Door and Kewaunee Counties 427 



INDEX. 

rAGK. 

Fourierism in Wisconsin 457-460 

Financial Depression 568 

Geology 1-44 

Galena Epoch 17-18 

Geography of Reptilian Age 30 

General Atkinson Takes Charge of Black Hawk 227 

Green Bay, Wisconsin's First Settlement 149 

Gerrymandering Cases 542-553 

Green Bay, Winona and St. I'aul Railroad Company 585-586 

Heavenly Bodies 1-2 

Huronian Age 9-10 

Hudson River Kpoch 18 

Hamilton Kpoch 24-25 

Hennepin's Discoveries 84-85 

Hubbell, Impeachment Trial of Levi 291-292 

Harvey, Administration of Governor 402-405 ^ 

Harvey, Drowning of. 404-405 

Harvey, Mrs., Enters Army as Nurse 405 

Hpme for Soldiers' Orphans 419 

Hartsuff, Lieutenant 469-471 

Hoard, Administration of Governor 529535 

Interval between Devonian and CMacial Ages 3334 

Interval between Glacial l^pochs 37 

Indian Famine 79 

Indians Plunder French Fort at Green Bay 94 

Indians Moved Across the Mississippi 20I 

Iron Ore Origin 9-10 

Ircti Brigade 3 '^3 '9 

Iron Brigade Boys, Illustration 310 

Infantry Regiments, First to Fifth inclusive 321-328 

Ironsides, Wreck of. 429 

Joliet's Discoveries 83 

Jefferson Davis — Wisconsin's First Lumberman 166-167 

Jefferson Davis — Illustration 225 

Keweenawan I'eriod 11-12 

Kilbourn's Narrative 208-2 u 

Keokuk — Illustration 190 

Laws of Rotation 2 

l^urentian Age 6-8 

Lower Magnesian Epoch 15 

Lower Silurian Age 16 

Lower Helderburg Epoch 23 

List of Elevations 4344 

La Salle, Robert Cavalier 85 92 

La Salle's Assassination 91 

Legislature, 1856, Bribery of. 305 30<^ 

Lewis, Administration ol Governor..."..... 411-415 

Lady Elgin, Loss of 461-478 



INDEX. 

I'AGE. 

laidington, Administration of Governor 479"483 

Miocene Period — Illustration 14 

Mound Builders 5354 

Moran Punishes Tribute-Exacting Foxes 101-102 

Massacre of Foxes on the Wisconsin 104 

Military Posts Captured 121-126 

Milwaukee 172 

Map of Rock River 203 

Mormonisni in Wisconsin 457-460 

Niagara Period 2i 

Nicollet Discovers Wisconsin 747^ 

Nicollet in Oriental Robes — Illustration 76 

Northwest Territory, the , 129- 147 

Ninth Wisconsin Battery 39739^ 

Newhall House Fire 503-527 

Original Condition of the Earth I 

Origin of Planets i 

Ocean's Formation 4 

Origin of Copper 11 

Oshkosh Fire 438 

Prehistoric Wisconsin 455 7 

Ponce de Leon , 60 

Prominent Settlers 152-154 

Prairie du Chien 155-168 

Portage 169 

Pecatonica Battlefield 209 

Products of Territory in 1842 262 

Peck, George \\\ — Illustration 3S2 

Peshtigo Fire 423 

Potter Railroad Law 434-436 

I'eck, Administration of Governor 537'5^7 

(^uarternary of Ice Age 35 

Reptiles of Mesozoic Era — Illustration 28 

Reptilian Age 29 

Reptilian Birds 30 

Radisson and Grosselliers 79 

Randall, Administration of Governor 303309 

Regiments, History of Sixth toTenth 329-335 

Regiments, Infantry, Eleventh to Sixteenth 337-34^ 

Regiments, Infantry, Seventeenth to Twentieth 347-353 

Regiments, Infantry, Twenty-first to Twenty-fifth 355-3^2 

Regiments, Infantry, Twenty-sixth to Thirtieth 363-367 

Regiments, Infantry, Thirty-first to Thirty-fifth 369-373 

Regiments, Infantry, Thirty-sixth to Fifty-third 375-3^2 

Rusk, Jeremiah M. — Illustration 439 

Rusk, Administration of Governor 497-501 

Railroads, History of Wisconsin 57i'5^7 

Railroads, Table of. 586-587 



INDEX. 

PAGE. 

Salina Epoch 23 

Second Glacial Epoch 37 

Second Glacial Period — Illustration 38 

Spanish Explorers and Explorations 5970 

.Spain Claims North America 70 

Spain Surrenders American Possessions 70 

School Land Fraud 296 

Sharpshooters, Berdan's, Co. ('• 383-384 

Second Wisconsin Cavalry 386-387 

Second Wisconsin Battery 392 

Sixth Wisconsin Battery 394 

Seventh Wisconsin Battery 395 

Salomon, Administration of Governor 407-409 

.Snyder, Fred 462-466 

Smith, M. E 471-475 

.Smith, Administration of Governor 485-495 

Scene on M., L. S. & W. R'y-- Illustration 496 

State Treasury Cases 555568 

Trenton Epoch 16-17 

Tertiary Age 31 

Territorial Days 234-278 

Taxable Property in 1S45 262 

Territorial Government 264 

Territorial Legislature 265-278 

Territorial Population in 1S36 257 

Territortal Boundaries 255 

Territorial Reminiscences 246-250 

Tallmadge, Administration of Governor 283-284 

Third Wisconsin Cavalry 3S7-388 

Third Wisconsin Battery 392 

Tenth Wisconsin Battery 38S-399 

Twelfth Wisconsin Battery 40040 2 

Thirteenth Wisconsin Battery 402 

Taylor, Administration of Governor 431-438 

Treasonable Orders 439-445 

Twin I^kes — Illustration 502 

Upper Silurian .Age 21 

Upheavals 27 

Vein Deposits 12 

Wisconsin Under French Dominion 93-"2 

Wisconsin Under English Rule 115-128 

Wisconsin Heights Battlefield 218 

Wisconsin in the Civil War 3' 1-402 

War Governors — Illustration 320 

Wisconsin Boys — Illustration 39^ 

War Measures 308-309 

W^ar Measures 4'3 

Washburn, Administration of Governor 425-430 

Wisconsin Central Railroad Company 583 585 



IE D '12 



